THE REMINISCENCES OF THE 
RIGHT HON. LORD O'BRIEN 



ft^j$^-e*4 






THE REMINISCENCES 
OF THE RIGHT HON. 

LORD O'BRIEN 

(OF KILFENORA) 

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF IRELAND 



EDITED BY HIS DAUGHTER 

HON. GEORGINA O'BRIEN 



WITH PORTRAIT 



NEW YORK 
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 
LONDON: EDWARD ARNOLD 

1916 



J< 3 

0* 



Printed in England, 






INTRODUCTION 

It is a matter of sincere regret to me that an apologia 
for inadequacy should preface this volume, which, as 
an autobiographical work, is incomplete and frag- 
mentary. I acted as my father's amanuensis, and 
each evening used to bring him the manuscript, 
saying, " Shall we work a little to-night ?" To which 
request, when we first undertook the book, he would 
assent. Alas ! as the days passed by, the answer, 
" Not to-night, I am too tired," became more and 
more frequent, until at last there came an evening 
when he said: " You will have to complete the book 
alone, unaided by me; I can work no more. I have 
every confidence in you." 

I had hoped that the writing of his reminiscences 
would provide him with an interesting pastime, in- 
stead of which it soon became evident that speaking 
of his early days saddened him. For one who had 
been so full of life and buoyancy, so vigorously alive, 
it was a sore trial to spend the days in an arm-chair, 
enfeebled by age and ill-health, conscious that the 
tide of life was slowly ebbing. Truly has Dante 

said : 

" Nessun maggior dolore 
Che ricordarsi del tempo feliee 
Nella miseria." 



vi INTRODUCTION 

Very reluctantly, and with many misgivings as to 
my qualifications for the work, I took up my pen to 
finish what was to me a sorrowful task. 

Many years before this book was begun I suggested 
to my father that he should begin an autobiography, 
but without success. He was indolent about writing, 
and invariably wrote the shortest of letters. I have 
heard it said that on the Bench he rarely made notes; 
he was able to pigeon-hole, as it were, the facts of a 
case in his brain, and I have been told that he never 
forgot any point whatsoever that had any bearing 
on it. Absolutely devoid of intellectual arrogance, 
he was ever willing to listen to the opinions of others, 
provided they were clearly and intelligently stated. 
Sometimes he would read the evidence in a case to a 
member of his family, and then ask an opinion on it, 
in order to ascertain the view which a non-legal mind 
would take of the evidence, so that he might fully 
understand the difficulties which would present them- 
selves to a jury. One day he called me into his 
study and gave me a brief to read. When I had 
done so he asked : " Now, what is your view of the 
case ?" 

I gave him my view, which he seemed rather to 
deride, and asked me on what grounds I based my 
opinion. Feeling very small, I stated my reasons as 
best I could. He took a totally different view of the 
case. 

" Now, might not the evidence be rea d in such a 
way ?" he said, representing other views of the case. 



INTRODUCTION vii 

" I have given you my opinion, such as it is," I 
replied. 

He smiled, as he said: " Well, I have been en- 
deavouring to urge my views on you to make you 
see things in the same light as I do, but it is only 
fair to say that there is a great deal to be said in 

favour of your opinion. Judge takes exactly 

the same view as you do. I fear there'll be a dis- 
agreement." 

A distinguished Judge thus wrote of him: " He 
and I were thrown much together all through our 
professional careers, and nothing ever interrupted our 
mutual regard and attachment. It was a joy to be 
with him in a case, he was so undaunted, and so 
thoroughly master of all the resources of advocacy. 
As an antagonist there was no one whom I feared 
more. With unerring instinct, he always directed 
his powers against one's most vulnerable point of 
defence. As a Judge, he displayed those great quali- 
ties which won for him his great position. Fearless, 
wise, strenuous to make justice and right prevail, and 
with extraordinary power of getting at the honesty 
of a case and penetrating false evidence, it is a comfort 
and satisfaction to have been comrade at the Bar 
with such a loyal friend, dauntless advocate, and 
admirable Judge." 

G. O'B. 

London, 

October, 1916. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

PASK 

EARLY RECOLLECTIONS — MY FATHER — THE FAMINE — 

RICHARD LALOR SHIEL — EDUCATION — SCHOOLDAYS - 1 

CHAPTER II 

TRINITY COLLEGE — CALLED TO THE BAR — HARRIERS — MY 

FIRST PUNCHESTOWN — MY FIRST CASE - - 12 

CHAPTER III 

EARLY STRUGGLES — A BREACH OF PROMISE — ISAAC BUTT — 

JUDGE KEOGH — THE MUNSTER CIRCUIT - 20 

CHAPTER IV 

I CONTEST CLARE — THE QUEEN V. PARNELL - 28 

CHAPTER V 

THE LAND LEAGUE— -MOON-LIGHTERS - - - 31 

CHAPTER VI 

A MURDER TRIAL STORMY AND STRENUOUS DAYS — A 

CLEVER IMPOSITION - - - - - 35 

CHAPTER VII 

TRIAL OF FRANCIS HYNES — " PETER THE PACKER * — A 

HUMOROUS JARVEY - - - - - 42 

CHAPTER VIII 

THE MAAMSTRASNA MASSACRE — TRIAL OF THE JOYCES - 46 

ix 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER IX 

PAGE 
THE INVINCIBLES — THE PHCENIX PARK MURDERS - 51 



CHAPTER X 

JUDGE O'BRIEN. (BY THE EDITOR) - - - 64 

CHAPTER XI 

EARL SPENCER — SIR REDVERS BULLER - - 67 

CHAPTER XII 

MR. A. J. BALFOUR — THE MITCHELSTOWN RIOTS — TRIAL OF 
MR. WILLIAM O'BRIEN — A BOGUS MESSAGE — THE PAR- 
NELL COMMISSION - - - - 71 

CHAPTER XIII 

NEWSPAPER ABUSE — THE CHANNEL CROSSING - 78 

CHAPTER XIV 

MR. WILFRED BLUNT — BLUNT V. INSPECTOR BYRNE - 81 

CHAPTER XV 

MR. DILLON ARRESTED — SOCIAL LIFE IN DUBLIN — FATHER 

HEALY — CRICKET — MONSIGNOR PERSICO - - 87 

CHAPTER XVI 

THE GWEEDORE TRIAL - - - - 92 

CHAPTER XVII 

HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS - - - - 97 

CHAPTER XVIII 

A JUDGE'S DUTIES — A NARROW ESCAPE — SOME WITNESSES 100 



CONTENTS xi 



CHAPTER XIX 

l'AGE 
LORD JUSTICE FITZGIBBON ----- 104 



CHAPTER XX 

SUCCESS AS A MATCHMAKER .... 107 

CHAPTER XXI 

ON LITERATURE - - - - - -110 

CHAPTER XXII 

USSHER V. USSHER - - - - - -113 

BY THE EDITOR 
CHAPTER XXIII 

EXPERT WITNESSES — SERJEANT ARMSTRONG— LORD RUSSELL 

— MR. GLADSTONE — LORD o'HAGAN - - - 135 

CHAPTER XXIV 

AN ELDERLY LOTHARIO - - - - - 140 

CHAPTER XXV 

AN AWKWARD PREDICAMENT — FRIENDS — JUDGE WEBB - 143 

CHAPTER XXVI 

THE THEATRE — SPURGEON — CHRISTIAN SCIENCE — DINNER 

WITH QUEEN VICTORIA - 147 

CHAPTER XXVII 

THE INTERNATIONAL BOAT RACE - - - - 153 

CHAPTER XXVIII 

NEWLANDS HOUSE — THE INVISIBLE COACH - - 157 



xii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XXIX 

PAGE 

CARLSBAD — VERSAILLES - - - - -161 



CHAPTER XXX 

ABBOTSFORD — DRYBURGH ABBEY — SEDAN DAY — HERBERT 

BISMARCK — LORD WOLSELEY - 164 



CHAPTER XXXI 

RESIGNATION — LAST DAYS ----- 169 

APPENDIX I 

TRIBUTE FROM THE JUDGES - 174 

APPENDIX II 

SPEECH ON WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE - 178 



INDEX 



191 



THE REMINISCENCES OF THE 
RIGHT HON. LORD O'BRIEN 

CHAPTER I 

EARLY RECOLLECTIONS — MY FATHER — THE FAMINE — RICHARD 
LALOR SHEIL — EDUCATION — SCHOOLDAYS 

I think it is Smollett who says something to the 
effect that every person who has anything to say 
ought to write his own memoirs, provided he has 
honesty enough to tell the truth. Inasmuch as the 
truth is often extremely dull, I take up my pen, with 
many misgivings, to write my reminiscences. 

I was born in the year 1842, on the 29th of June, 
at Camelry House, in the county of Clare, where my 
family was then domiciled. My father, John O'Brien 
of Ballynalacken, County Clare, was a Whig and 
Member of Parliament for Limerick. He had, as we 
say in Ireland, a " long family." I was his fifth son. 

He was a man of undoubted abilities and singularly 
broadminded, but cold and reserved in manner, and 
though he kept us, children, at a distance, we never 
doubted the affection he bore us. He might have 
left a mark on contemporary history had he not been 
of an extremely sensitive nature — shy and diffident. 

1 



2 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

He was a warm supporter of Catholic Emancipation 
and an intimate friend of the great O'Connell, to 
whom he bore a very remarkable likeness, and for 
whom he was frequently mistaken, a fact which some- 
times gave rise to curious incidents. It is to my 
father's eternal credit that he was among the first 
Catholics of the educated classes to come forward in 
support of Catholic Emancipation, a right which, 
strange to say, the Catholic gentry of Ireland were 
very slow to claim. 

I have now in my possession the (London) Morning 
Chronicle of the 15th of December in the year 1836 
(price 5d.), giving an account of a meeting held in the 
Court House, Clare ; my father was in the chair. At 
this meeting, held two years before the passing of the 
great Poor Law Act, resolutions in favour of Poor 
Laws for Ireland were unanimously adopted. At 
that time poverty and illness were rife in Ireland, 
and a great portion of the land was in the hands of 
absentee landlords. My father, speaking at this 
meeting, pointed out that " a well-regulated poor- 
rate would, in a degree, have the effect of an absentee 
tax, from which the resident landed proprietors would 
derive important advantages and be relieved from the 
painful sense of living in the midst of a famishing 
population. The physical and moral condition of the 
country would progressively improve, and the higher 
and more affluent ranks, whether resident or absentee, 
would be compelled, by the urgent sense of self in- 
terest, to superintend the wants and ameliorate the 



THE FAMINE 3 

condition of the humbler classes. It is appre- 
hended," he said, "that a poor-rate may encroach 
upon rental, but whatever part is so applied will pro- 
duce an abundant equivalent, and I know no more 
appropriate application of national rental than in pro- 
tecting the great body of the people from periodical 
starvation." It would seem that my father foresaw 
the evils which were to accrue from absenteesim. 

My first recollection, a melancholy one, impressed 
itself indelibly upon my mind, and comes before me 
as distinctly as if the incident took place only yester- 
day, and yet how many years have elapsed since then ! 
It must have been about the year 1847 or 1848, the 
years of the failure of the potato crop and the great 
famine known in Ireland as " The Great Hunger." 
The very atmosphere of the day comes before me — a 
dull grey day, with a low-hanging, leaden sky. I (a 
very small boy) was standing in a field with my 
father, who held me by the hand, and near by was a 
labourer digging potatoes. Each time he dug up a 
spade full of potatoes he scraped them free of clay, 
and, in silence, submitted them to my father's inspec- 
tion. Consternation and despair were depicted on 
the man's countenance. Each potato was blaqk and 
rotten at the core. I remember walking home with 
my father and thinking the while how grave he looked. 
The years 1847 and 1848 were, perhaps, the saddest 
years in the all-sad history of Ireland. People, 
especially in the west, died in hundreds from dysen- 
tery, the effects of starvation. Clare was devastated 



4 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

by disease, misery, and desolation. The workhouses 
were overcrowded; it was impossible to provide 
accommodation for the starving, and on the road 
skeletons were to be seen. A child of my tender 
years was not permitted to see these harrowing sights ; 
still, I perfectly recollect hearing them described. 

My early recollections come back to me in a frag- 
mentary manner. Some mere incidents stand out 
vividly in my memory, while events of importance or 
personages of distinction are totally forgotten, or but 
indistinctly remembered. As a small child, I some- 
times met Richard Lalor Sheil, who was a connection 
of our family. I can just recall the vision of a man 
of dwarfish appearance, with very intelligent eyes 
which made his face attractive. 

Sheil was a most agreeable companion. His ora- 
torical powers were so great that they rivalled those 
of O'Connell, and were supposed to excel even those 
of Macaulay. My father attached much importance 
to oratory, and was no mean orator himself; indeed, 
Macaulay congratulated him in the House " on the 
force and eloquence " he displayed " when pleading 
the cause of his country." This occurred in 1844. 
Lord John Russell had moved for a committee of the 
whole House to take into consideration the state of 
Ireland. I think in those days more importance was 
attached to oratory in politics than at the present 
time. Nowadays one hears of good speakers or 
clever debaters, but rarely of great orators. I some- 
times wonder if oratory is becoming a lost art, and 
fear that Mr. Gladstone and John Bright were the 



RICHARD LALOR SHEIL 5 

last of the orators. How well I remember the well- 
known Serjeant Frank Murphy !* — a brilliant and 
amusing conversationalist, the best of good company, 
a most entertaining raconteur, and much sought after 
in London on account of his many social gifts. We, 
children, delighted in his society, and would ask him 
about London and the notable people he had met 
there. He used to speak to us of " Old Thack," as 
he called Thackeray, who was a friend of his, 
although he never quite forgave him for his unflat- 
tering portrait of the Irish in the Irish Sketch Book. 
The Serjeant was a confirmed gourmet, and I recol- 
lect his telling us that he dined with Lord Byron, 
who, though priding himself on his cook, gave a very 
indifferent dinner. On Lord Byron asking him what 
he thought of the cook, he answered, with more 
frankness than politeness: " Dam bad." 

My father was deeply interested in the education 
of his children, and was, as I have already said, rather 
severe. My three elder brothers were at school at 
Oscott, and, when he was not detained in London by 
Parliamentary duties, he used to superintend my 
studies. I had to present myself in the library each 
morning. It was with awe that I came into his 
presence. I was placed in the far corner of the room 
and made to read aloud from one of the Latin classics, 
generally Virgil, and woe to me when I stumbled 

* Serjeant-at-Law; a member of the English Bar; a writer of 
magazine articles ; contributed to Fraser's Magazine, which was 
established by Maginn, and was under the auspices of Thackeray; 
M.P. for County Cork, 1837-1853.— Editor. 



6 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

over or mispronounced a word ! I still hear his voice 
ringing in my ears, as he called out " Sir," or " Sirrah, 
what was that ?" Sometimes when the lessons were 
over, and I had acquitted myself well, he would con- 
verse with me, and tell me some story or incident 
by way of reward. I remember his telling me 
of an occurrence which made an impression on my 
mind. One dark, wild night when returning from 
the Clare Assizes (he was High Sheriff at the time), 
his carriage was suddenly stopped on a lonely road, 
and an individual thrust his head into the window 
saying that he desired to give himself up to justice, 
" for," he said, " I was among the six men who mur- 
dered Mr. So-and-so." He alluded to the murder of a 
gentleman, which had taken place many years before, 
and for which five men had been executed. The 
man then proceeded to say that he was present at 
the death scene of his companions, and the horror 
of that scene still haunted him. At his own most 
earnest wish he surrendered to justice, and, I believe, 
paid the extreme penalty of his crime. This is inter- 
esting only inasmuch as it shows that great criminals, 
haunted by the sense of their guilt, will, years after 
a crime has been committed, surrender to justice 
rather than bear the reproaches of conscience. 

As a boy, I was very happy, and full of vitality. 
Most of my time was spent out of doors hunting hares 
or coursing. I was often in mischief, and numerous 
were the scrapes in which I was involved, from many 
of which my old nurse, Kelly, extracted me. She 
was a typical old-fashioned Irish servant, very faith- 



EDUCATION 7 

ful and devoted to us. She was with us until she 
died, and was always seventy-four when the census 
came round, though she was much nearer ninety- 
four ! When I wished to tease her, I used to say: 
"Come now, Nurse Kelly; what is your age?" at 
which question she immediately flew into a passion. 
Though she was devoted to us all, I think I was her 
favourite — perhaps because I gave her the most 
trouble. I have a vivid recollection of being confined 
to the lumber-room for some childish escapade, while 
the kind old woman sat outside the door with an 
enormous brown nursery teapot, trying to console me 
with saueters of tea, floating with cream, which she 
passed through the door. 

One trait I share in common with the great Dr. 
Johnson, and that is my love of tea. As a child, it 
was a panacea for all my woes. When I was nine 
years of age my father talked of sending me to school, 
to join my brothers at Oscott. My father was some- 
thing of a philanthropist, which often means spending 
more money than one can afford. He had built a 
schoolhouse, and had several roads made throughout 
Clare to give employment after the famine — an ex- 
pensive form of philanthropy. In those days elec- 
tions were a great expense, so that when I was of 
age to go to school the family exchequer had run 
rather low. It was decided at last that my brother 
William and I should go to Clongowes Wood College. 
I remember feeling very sad and desolate standing 
aloof in the playground, watching boys of my own 
age flying kites, which seemed to me an inane pas- 



8 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

time. At home we, children, were expected to take an 
intelligent interest in all that was going on, and were 
permitted to join in the conversation of our elders. 
The Jesuit Fathers, od perceiving my mental isolation, 
moved me into a class with boys older than myself. 
I soon overcame any feelings of home-sickness. Many 
pleasant memories flash back upon me when I think 
of those distant schooldays, my teachers, and my 
school companions. Father Lentaigne was Rector of 
Clongowes then, and among my class-fellows were 
several boys who afterwards rose to eminence. John 
Naish, one of my dearest friends throughout his life, 
was amongst them. He became Lord Chancellor of 
Ireland when little over forty years of age. Even 
as a small boy he was remarkable for exceptional 
ability; indeed, his intellect was towering, and his 
memory encyclopaedic. His early death, in the full 
vigour of his glorious intellectual powers, was a great 
shock to his friends. Sir Nicholas O'Connor, after- 
wards Ambassador at St. Petersburg, and the dis- 
tinguished scholar, Richard O'Shaughnessy, were 
class-fellows of mine, also Father Donovan, now a 
Jesuit. I worked very hard at school, and always held 
a good position in my class, being generally top of it. 
In those pre-Intermediate days our studies were 
almost exclusively classical. Richard O'Shaughnessy 
and I were the leaders of the Rhetoric class. The 
rivalry between us became so intense that in the 
summer mornings, though still in bed, we would lie 
waiting with open shutters for the first streak of 
dawn, so that we might prepare our work for the 



SCHOOLDAYS 9 

examinations. After a close struggle, I carried off 
the examination prize. My conduct on the whole 
was good, although I was once the ringleader in a 
" barring out." One morning my class, headed by 
me, decided to have a " barring out." Properly 
speaking, it was the locking in of ourselves, and a 
" barring out " of the " prefects " and other un- 
desirables. The great pleasure lay in kicking up a 
row, and in giving a display of pluck before the house. 
The time selected was the hour for the mathematical 
class.* Mathematics had no charm for me, nor, 
indeed, for the majority of the class. A general 
strike was proclaimed, and there was a cry of " Down 
with mathematics ! " and much cheering and up- 
roarious defiance of law and order. The master in- 
voked the aid of the " Higher Line Prefect," who 
summoned the rioters to open the door. Dead 
silence reigned among the boys, inasmuch as they 
were afraid lest their voices might be recognized, 
and we were in dire fear of the prefect. Once more 

* That distinguished Jesuit, Father Delany, when speaking of 
my father, told me the following little anecdote: " It became my 
duty," said Father Delany, " in July, 1858, to examine the second 
Mathematical Class of some fourteen students. The papers I had 
set were easy ; but of the fourteen not more than three attempted 
to do the simplest proposition. The others handed in blank 
papers, except O'Brien. He, too, did not attempt any of the 
propositions, but wrote a really clever essay on the educational 
value of the study of mathematics if only one had a taste for them. 
This was characteristic of the boy. Mature beyond his years, 
he was very self-possessed, with the bump of reverence only 
moderately developed; but genial and pleasant, and ready of 
repartee." — Editor. 



10 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

lie summoned us to surrender. There was no re- 
sponse, whereupon he sent for the house carpenter, 
who knocked in the panel of the door with two or 
three sturdy blows. We had to capitulate, and had 
to walk out in single file, blessing our luck that nothing 
worse lay in store for us. 

In my schooldays a favourite amusement of mine 
was known as " bringing out the hounds." This pas- 
time usually took place in the General Study Room, 
when the boys were preparing their work for next 
day, and when silence was imperative. The Prefect 
of Discipline was near-sighted. One of my class- 
fellows used to start giving tongue like a fox-hound 
from one end of the study. I also gave tongue, and 
in a few minutes there was a capital reproduction of 
hounds in full cry. As no boy stirred from his seat, 
it was impossible for the Prefect of Discipline to 
distinguish those who gave tongue and those who 
did not. 

I was the recipient of many prizes when at school, 
and in 1858 received the Clongowes Medal. I had a 
love for the Latin classics, and construed Latin and 
Greek verse very fairly. Though never a great 
reader, I delighted in Shakespeare's plays, and had 
a liking for poetry, especially for that of Byron. Sir 
Walter Scott was my favourite author, and is to this 
day. I shall never forget the pleasure with which I 
read " Ivanhoe." I know it is the fashion nowadays 
to decry the Waverley Novels as too romantic and 
demode, but, surely, no other historical novel gives 
such a vivid and incomparable picture of the feudal 



SCHOOLDAYS 11 

times. Though fully aware of my literary short- 
comings, which I confessed to Mr. Arnold before 
commencing my autobiography, I maintain that there 
never was, and never will be, a novel to equal " Ivan- 
hoe." I liked books which deal with adventures, and 
works that appeal to the imagination. I thoroughly 
enjoyed the writings of Dumas Pere, and still re- 
member being thrilled by Mrs. RadclinVs " Mysteries 
of Udolpho," which I read as a schoolboy during my 
vacation. I sat up at night for hours reading it in 
solitude by the light of a solitary candle. Profound 
silence reigned around me — the silence of night — 
when, all of a sudden, I distinctly heard a noise in 
my room. There could be no mistake. Up to that 
moment I had never believed in ghosts, but then felt 
firmly convinced that I was about to see one. The 
noise came again, loud, and more insistent. I hardly 
dared look round, fearing some ghostly manifestation. 
The candle was guttering and nickering before I 
summoned courage to turn my head. I glanced 
around the room, but there was nothing unusual to 
be seen; still the sound came apparently from the 
direction of the mantelpiece. It was so loud that I 
seized the candle, and, going to the place whence it 
proceeded, heard a croak. In another moment a huge 
jackdaw flopped down the chimney from its nest at 
the top. It was much bewildered and surprised by 
its strange surroundings, and was, apparently, as 
frightened as I had been before its advent. I suppose 
it would be an Irish bull to say that this was my one 
encounter with a ghost. 



CHAPTER II 

TRINITY COLLEGE — CALLED TO THE BAR — HARRIERS — MY 
FIRST PUNCHESTOWN — MY FIRST CASE 

In 1855 I was shocked by the sudden news of 
my father's death. The day before, in his usual 
health and good spirits, he had started for London 
on Parliamentary duty. When he reached Dublin 
he had some sort of seizure from which he never 
rallied. He died at the Shelbourne Hotel. 

After his death my mother moved to Dublin with 
us. My two eldest brothers were grown up at the 
time. I entered Trinity College with the view of being 
called to the Bar. My career at College was not, I 
regret to say, a very distinguished one, nor was I 
conspicuous as a strenuous worker. I had rooms in 
that section of the College known as Botany Bay, 
where, I believe, I gave very pleasant parties. I 
remember one especially, a musical party. My dear 
friend M— — (now a saint, and one of London's most 
distinguished preachers, then a gay young man about 
town), having dined not wisely but too well, took 
possession of the piano and strummed upon it until 
we could stand it no longer. He fancied himself as 

12 



TRINITY COLLEGE 13 

a musician in those days, and I believe he is still 
musical. When we asked him to abstain from playing, 
he determinedly sat upon the instrument, and it was 
with great difficulty that we were at last able to evict 
him. 

When I was at Trinity, Dr. Salmon was Lecturer in 
Mathematics. Years afterwards he was Provost. He 
was most gifted, but his abnormal absent-mindedness 
gave rise to many good stories at his expense. I 
remember being told that on one occasion when he 
was out walking, he knocked against a cow on its way 
to the butcher. Deeply absorbed in some intel- 
lectual problem, he took the cow to be a passer-by, 
and, taking off his hat, apologized to it most elabo- 
rately, and then walked on. 

On another occasion, when the Provost had gone 
to a dinner-party, his faithful servant was horrified 
to find his master's trousers on the bed. " Gracious 
goodness !" thought he ; " my master has gone to 
a party without his trousers." The man seized 
the garment, and rushed into the street, where 
he overtook the Provost, looking quite spick-and- 
span and almost fashionable in a new pair of 
trousers ! 

At Trinity Canon Teignmouth Shore was one of 
my grinders. Only a few years ago I chanced to 
meet him again, and spent a pleasant day with him at 
Worcester, where he showed me over his beloved 
Cathedral. When I left Trinity College I had had 
an auction of all my things, and went to London to 



14 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

" eat my dinners." In London I spent money nobly 
— in fact, so munificently that I was soon penniless, 
and probably would have been there to this day had 
I not possessed a valuable edition of Johnson's dic- 
tionary, which I sold. The money it realized helped 
to pay my return fare to Ireland. 

Dublin was very gay in those days. My sisters 
and I went to balls, dances, and parties at the Castle, 
but I was obliged to retire from Court life owing to 
the loss of my Court suit. It had belonged to my 
eldest brother, then to my second and third, and 
eventually was handed down to me rather the worse 
for wear. It disappeared, having been stolen by a 
servant. Its loss necessitated my withdrawal from 
Viceregal circles for a time. Some years after its 
disappearance, as I was walking down Dame Street, 
when a levee was being held at the Castle, a rickety 
cab collapsed just in front of me, and a gentleman in 
a full Court suit was deposited on the pavement 
bruised and looking very doleful. I condoled with 
him on his accident, and, as I did so, was surprised 
to perceive that he was wearing my ci-devant Court 
suit. In the course of conversation I asked him what 
tailor had been responsible for his suit. He told 
me that he had bought it from a servant-man, who 
said that it was given to him by his former master, 
who had no further use for it. There could be no 
mistake about the suit, as I recognized certain well- 
known patches. 

I was called to the Bar in 1865. 1 read with that 



CALLED TO THE BAR 15 

great Judge and lawyer, Chief Baron Palles,* to whom 
I always say I am indebted for any knowledge of 
law I possess. For six months after I was called to 
the Bar I gave no attention to work; not that I was 
lazy or an idler, but I was fond of pleasure and ener- 
getic in its pursuit. In those days I had a passion 
for hunting which much interfered with my work. 
It was far pleasanter to be at my brother's place in 
Clare, enjoying the fresh breezes from the Atlantic, 
than to be in a stuffy court-house, hanging about on 
the look-out for chance clients, or listening to other 
people's cases. I had a scratch pack of harriers, the 
keep of which cost me nothing — they were boarded out 
amongst the tenantry; and I possessed a horse called 
Chance, the most trusty of hunters. The whole 
country-side was wont to come out hunting with me, 
even the schoolmaster left books and pupils to join 
the chase. He was an excellent sportsman; I only 
hope he was an equally good educationist. Perhaps 
in those days school inspectors were less scrupulous, 
or less keen, than now; anyhow, we were never 
troubled by informal visits from them. We were a 

* The Lord Chief Baron always regarded my father as a youth, 
and never forgot that he had been his mentor, when, as a young 
barrister, he had read law with him. 

One day they sat together during the hearing of an important 
case. A controversy on some point of law arose, on which the 
opinion of the Lord Chief Justice, who was presiding, differed 
from that of the Lord Chief Baron, and the latter was heard to 
exclaim, as though he were speaking to a recalcitrant schoolboy: 
" Oh, Peter, Peter, you never learned that from me." — Editor. 



16 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

merry party, and the hillside rang with the sound of 
my hunting-horn. I used to impress upon the keeper, 
Tom Gardiner, then some years older than myself, the 
necessity of preserving hares, now I threaten to put 
him in jail should the hares fail. I am happy to say 
Tom is still alive, and only the other day he sent me 
a message to say that he had " plenty of hares for 
me; would I come and hunt them V Alas ! my 
hunting days are over, and for me " there has faded 
a glory from the earth." Tom Gardiner is endowed 
with all the vivid imagination of the Celt, and is 
the most entertaining of story-tellers. With what 
delight Lady Gregory and Mr. Yeats would have 
listened to him ! Tom was intimately acquainted 
with the fairies, and had seen mermaids with emerald- 
coloured eyes and long hair, for " all the world like 
say-weed," who had endeavoured to put a " spell on " 
him and draw him under the waves in spite of himself; 
but Tom was obdurate to all blandishments, and was 
not to be cajoled even by " the Queen of the Mer- 
maids herself," who, he gave me to understand, had 
endeavoured to fascinate him. He took no little 
pride in having resisted her baneful influence. We 
all delighted in his stories, and this the rogue knew. 
As I write, I seem to see his shrewd Irish eyes fixed 
on my face, observing me closely, as he related some 
of his thrilling experiences most dramatically, won- 
dering, I suppose, how far I was gullible. So vivid 
were his descriptions of " witch hares " and strange 
foxes, that, when I was listening to him, I am not 



MY FIRST PUNCHESTOWN 17 

certain that I myself did not believe in magic and 
fairies. 

How happy I was in Clare, and how I loved the 
wild Burren country, and the thunderous sound of 
the Atlantic, as the waves rolled against the cliffs ! 
I recollect one most exciting hunt, when a hare, having 
given us quite a brisk run, made for the cliffs of Moher, 
and, closely pursued by the hounds, bounded into 
the Atlantic. It was with great difficulty I managed 
to call off my hounds. On another occasion my 
horse, Chance, floundered into a bog, and, but that 
he extricated himself by what seemed nothing short 
of a miracle, the Queen's Bench would never have 
known me. 

How well I remember my first Punchestown, 
which took place not long after I had been called 
to the Bar ! I had made no arrangements to go, 
and, all of a sudden, on the very morning of the 
races, it flashed upon me that they were to take place 
that day. I wanted very much to go, as did my 
friend, Sam Walker, afterwards Lord Chancellor of 
Ireland. John Naish also expressed willingness to 
accompany us. But how were we to get to Punches- 
town ? That was the question. Special trains did 
not run so frequently in those days, and they were all 
gone before we bethought ourselves of the races. All 
the jarvey cars had either started or were bespoken. 
We betook ourselves to a livery stable, where we 
endeavoured to secure a conveyance. Everything 
on wheels seemed to be en route to Punchestown. 

2 



18 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

The only vehicle on the premises was a hearse, but 
we were not to be beaten, and hired it. We were 
joined by another friend, whom I did not meet again 
until he had become a Field-Marshal, many, many 
years afterwards. Drawn by two long-tailed, fune- 
real, doleful animals, we drove on to the course, where 
we were applauded by the crowd. Perhaps those 
sorry-looking steeds would have presented a more 
spanking appearance had they known that, of the 
four occupants of the hearse, two would become Lord 
Chancellors, another would one day be a Field-Mar- 
shal, and the other a Chief Justice ! I believe I won 
a little money on the races, which I think I deserved, 
having surmounted so many difficulties to get to the 
meeting. My sporting proclivities were viewed by 
my family with dismay; they feared I should never 
work, and, indeed, I might never have done so, had 
I not met my wife, to whom I owe all my success in 
life. When I proposed to her, she accepted me upon 
the condition that I should set to work, and when 
I was getting into practice, we arranged that we 
were to marry. I now applied myself to my profes- 
sion, attended Quarter Sessions, and hung around the 
assize court, hoping to get briefed. Life is a hard 
struggle for a young barrister, and especially hard 
for those who have no connection among solicitors. 
Many of my fellow-barristers were sons of wealthy 
solicitors, who took care that their sons should be 
well provided with briefs. 
I had joined the Munster circuit. One day my 



MY FIRST CASE 19 

opportunity came at the Cork Assizes, over which 
Judge Fitzgerald, afterwards Lord Fitzgerald, was 
presiding. A soldier was being tried for some offence, 
and the counsel for the defence had been taken ill, 
if I remember rightly; at any rate, he failed to put 
in an appearance. " Is there no one here to defend 
the prisoner V asked the Judge; and then his glance 
fell on me, and he said: " Mr. O'Brien, will you under- 
take this man's defence ?" I gave a nervous, but 
delighted, assent, rose to my feet, overwhelmed with 
confusion, and when I began to address the jury, in 
my embarrassment I did so from the back benches 
of the court. Loud tittering brought me to myself, 
and I stumbled into my proper place. Once fairly 
started, I lost my self-consciousness, and must have 
acquitted myself well, for when the case had concluded, 
Judge Fitzgerald congratulated me in the most flat- 
tering terms on the manner in which I had conducted 
the defence. From that day I steadily got into prac- 
tice. 



CHAPTER III 

EARLY STRUGGLES — A BREACH OP PROMISE — ISAAC BUTT — 
JUDGE KEOGH — THE MUNSTER CIRCUIT 

Shortly after I was called to the Bar I was appointed 
registrar to my uncle, James O'Brien, one of the 
Judges in the Court of Queen's Bench. He was often 
confused with the late Judge William O'Brien, though 
they were not even remotely related. After my 
father's death my uncle represented Limerick in 
Parliament until he was raised to the Bench. I did 
not, however, remain his registrar for any length of 
time, as I found the duties attached to the registrar- 
ship interfered with my professional work. When I 
had been at the Bar for about four years I married, 
with little to begin married life upon, save courage 
and an invincible optimism. I worked valiantly, 
rising at six o'clock in the morning, and getting 
through much work before breakfast. All my life I 
have found the morning the best time for work, 
though, of course, I have had frequently to sit up 
late in consultation. How delighted I was in those 
days to make a few guineas on a brief ! These small 
fees gave me far greater pleasure than the large sums 
I afterwards received, when success was achieved. 
I think most young barristers experience great plea- 

20 



A BREACH OF PROMISE 21 

sure when they receive their first fees (however small), 
the result of their brain-work. 

I remember that one of my early successes was in 
a breach-of-promise case. A farmer's daughter had 
been badly treated by a man, who, having been 
engaged to her for a considerable number of years, 
jilted her in the most heartless manner. The girl 
whom he had so cruelly forsaken had been engaged 
to him in her early girlhood, and was at the time of 
the action past her fremiere jeunesse ; nevertheless, 
she was of very prepossessing appearance. She 
seemed to feel her position keenly. I thought that 
her good looks would be likely to make a favourable 
impression on judge and jury, and told her solicitor 
to advise her to dress nicely on the day she gave her 
evidence, which he promised to do. To my dismay, 
my client appeared in court next day befeathered, 
with touzled hair, and dressed in an exaggeration of 
the prevailing fashion. All the colours of the rainbow 
seemed to have merged themselves upon her person. 
" Gracious Heaven !" I whispered to her solicitor, 
" bring her out of court and get her to alter her appear- 
ance as much as possible. Bid her wash the powder 
off her face; remember she is broken-hearted !" The 
solicitor acted on my suggestion, the lady left 
court for a few minutes, and returned less flamboyant 
in appearance. In stating the case to the jury I 
expatiated on the cruel conduct of a man, capable of 
throwing over a girl whose best years had been con- 
secrated to him, and for whom life had no longer any 



22 KEMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

attractions. My address drew tears from some of 
the jurors, and I actually succeeded in getting the 
damages asked for, a very large sum. 

During my early days at the Bar I was counsel in 
several cases with Isaac Butt as my leader. He was 
most eloquent, and I found him most likeable, as did 
everybody with whom he came in contact. I was 
with him in one of his last cases. Poor man ! How 
weak and ill he was — almost in a state of collapse as 
he tried to struggle on with his work ! It was said 
that Butt died of a broken heart. I do not know 
whether this was really the case, but doubtless worry 
and anxiety hastened his end. Butt, the most dis- 
interested of men, was deposed for Parnell, and died, 
as did Parnell, forsaken by his party. 

I recollect hearing a story in connection with a 
dinner-party at Butt's house, at which a number of 
people were dining, amongst others, David Plunkett, 
now Lord Rathmore. There was also a man who 

shall be nameless, and whom I shall call Y . Butt 

rarely drank whisky, but would sometimes take a 

glass of gin in preference. Y , having put some 

whisky into his glass, proceeded to add from a de- 
canter what he took to be water, but which was gin. 
Having nearly filled his tumbler, he drank it off with 
the result that, ere the lapse of many minutes, he 
was speechless. After a time he recovered his senses, 
and, turning to Butt, said: " What splendid whisky 
you have, Butt ! Never did I taste its equal." 

Judge Keogh, one of the cleverest men that ever 



JUDGE KEOGH 23 

sat upon the Irish Bench, was of somewhat arbitrary 
temper. Once he and I had a passage of arms.* 

* I am indebted to an eyewitness, the Rev. Mr. Pearson, 
for an interesting account of the scene, which he desoribes 
thus: " Late in the day Judge Keogh was charging the jury: the 
court was crowded with all the leading citizens of Cork, and 
excitement ran very high. Judge Keogh was giving the jury a 
definition of the law of conspiracy, when Mr. O'Brien stood up 
and said: ' Respectfully, my lord, I would ask your lordship to 
put it this way to the jury,' mentioning another legal definition. 
Judge Keogh turned round angrily and said : ' Mr. O'Brien, 
resume your seat, and if you stand up again I shall have you 
removed from court.' (I may say Mr. O'Brien had not previously 
said a word during the Judge's charge.) Mr. O'Brien did resume 
his seat, and waited until the Judge had finished his charge 
and the jury had retired; he then said: ' My lord, when your 
lordship was defining the law of conspiracy, in the excitement of 
the moment I rose to suggest an alternative definition; I did so 
most respectfully. Doubtless I was a little irregular in not 
waiting until the jury had retired, but your lordship said if I did 
not resume my seat, you would have me removed from court.' 
Judge Keogh: 'Yes, certainly.' Mr. O'Brien: 'Well my lord, 
on behalf of the Munster Bar, I strongly protest against such 
language being addressed to any member. If such language can be 
used by the Bench, we may say farewell to the freedom of the Bar.' 

" The hour being then about 7 p.m., the Judge said he would 
go to dinner and return at 9 o'clock, to take the verdict of the 

jury. 

" I came back rather early, and was fortunate enough to get 
my old seat directly behind Mr. O'Brien ; sitting next to him was 
the late Mr. Justice Wright. When 9 o'clock came, the court 
was so crowded that we all felt certain Judge Keogh would be 
in a towering rage and have us all removed this time. There 
seemed to be no check (as indeed there was not) on the crowd 
coming in and filling up every passage. 9.30 came and 10 o'clock, 
and still no Judge. It was fully 10.30 when he came on the 
Bench, and the Sheriff started to call out the jury. ' Wait a 



24 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

The encounter occurred at the Cork Assizes as far 
back as the year 1877. A man named Humphreys, 
who had held the position of City Treasurer, was 
accused of having formed a conspiracy to defraud 
the late Sir John Arnott, whom he had joined in a 
business transaction. The whole issue of the case 
depended on the jury having a clear understanding 
as to what constituted a conspiracy. I had argued 
that one person could not form a conspiracy, and that 
there was no evidence to show that the accused had 
conspired with any named person. When Judge 
Keogh was giving a definition of the law of conspiracy, 
I rose and said: " Respectfully, my lord, I ask you 
to put it in this way," and proceeded to briefly out- 
line the law of conspiracy. Keogh grew heated, and 
threatened to have me removed from court if I did 
not sit down. When he had finished speaking, I rose 
and said: "My lord, you threatened to have me 
removed. If such language can be used from the 
Bench, then farewell to the independence of the Irish 
Bar." 



moment,' said Judge Keogh, and then turning to Mr. O'Brien, he 
said : ' Mr. O'Brien, I said something to you this evening which I 
regret, and you resented, very properly. I fully withdraw it; that 
statement was made in the presence of a crowded court, and so I 
sent word that the doors of the court should be open, so that as 
many might be present while I withdraw those words as were here 
when I uttered them.' And then, for the first time, I should 
say, in his experience as a Judge, he was cheered to the echo. 
But the cheering was even greater when the popular Peter O'Brien 
(the name we all loved to call him by) rose to make a suitable 
acknowledgment." — Editor. 



JUDGE KEOGH 25 

During the remainder of the day the incident 
weighed heavily on my mind. I had a personal re- 
gard for Judge Keogh, and was also fully conscious 
of the fact that it was a serious matter for a junior 
barrister to speak as I had done. The court sat very 
late that night. Before it rose Keogh, who was a 
big man, sent for me. " Mr. O'Brien," he said, " I 
must apologize to you. I was wrong in using the 
threat that I did." 

There and then in open court he made an amende 
honorable, which did him infinite credit. Ever after 
this encounter he was most friendly to me. 

Rumour had it that Keogh was hard up. This was 
probably untrue, although his hospitality was pro- 
verbial. 

On one occasion when Keogh was dining with Lord 
Fitzgerald, one of the host's little daughters made her 
appearance at dessert, and was told by her father to 
shake hands with Judge Keogh. To the surprise of 
all present, the child resolutely refused to do as she 
was bidden, and put her hands behind her back. 
' Why won't you shake hands with me, my dear ?" 
Keogh asked. " Because I heard papa say that you 
are always pulling the devil by the tail," the enfant 
terrible replied ! 

I have many pleasant recollections in connection 
with the Munster circuit — recollections of good stories 
and good company. Tom de Moleyns, subsequently 
a County Court Judge, was at one time father of the 
Munster Bar. His was a charming personality. He 



26 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

enjoyed an immense and deserved popularity, was 
courteous and affable, and possessed a fund of anec- 
dote. 

I remember de Moleyns telling me that journeying 
in France he found himself in a railway-carriage with 
a very beautiful young girl, accompanied by a nun 
who was evidently acting as duenna. De Moleyns, 
who was much struck by the young lady's appearance, 
cudgelled his brains as to how to get into conversation 
with her. At last an opportunity arose. The nun 
endeavoured ineffectually to open a window of the 
carriage. De Moleyns eagerly proffered his assis- 
tance. The nun thanked him in broken English. 
The wily de Moleyns drew himself up indignantly, 
and said in his best French that he was not English, 
but Irlandais. " Irlandais et Catholique !" exclaimed 
the nun delightedly. De Moleyns, who was not 
" Catholique," and was like St. Paul in being all 
things to all men, did not consider it necessary to 
make a confession of faith at that moment. The ice 
once broken, the long journey was very pleasantly 
beguiled for him by the conversation of the two charm- 
ing ladies. 

Very different from the courteous de Moleyns, but 
an excellent fellow also, and a member of my circuit, 
was Daniel O'Riordan, generally known as the Con- 
veyancer, because at one time of his life he was the 
driver of a car between Macroom and Cork. Such 
is the republican spirit of the Bar ! 

O'Riordan was a most enthusiastic card-player, and 



THE MUNSTER CIRCUIT 27 

after the Bar mess it was his custom to indulge in a 
game of whist. He had a luxuriant growth of curly 
hair, and one night, when intent on the game, leant 
so close to the candles on the card-table that in one 
second his hyacinthine locks had caught fire. The 
other players were appalled, but not so my friend 
O'Riordan, who, not in the least perturbed, pressed his 
hand to his hair and extinguished the flame, saying, 
at the same time: " Never mind the conflagration, 
boys; go on with the game." 



CHAPTER IV 

I CONTEST CLARE — THE QUEEN V. PARNELL 

On the death of Sir Colman O'Loghlen in 1879, I 
contested Clare in the Liberal interest. The other 
candidates were The O'Gorman Mahon and Captain 
Hector Vandeleur, whose father, Colonel Vandeleur, 
of Kilrush, a Conservative, had represented the county 
for many years. The veteran O'Gorman Mahon 
came forward as a Home Ruler. Though he lived 
almost entirely abroad, he was, nevertheless, popular 
in the county, inasmuch as he had many years before 
supported O'Connell when he contested Clare. The 
Freeman's Journal (the Home Rule organ), when 
referring to the impending election, published the 
following passage: "The nomination for Clare took 
place yesterday. The three candidates proposed and 
received by the Sheriff are — The O'Gorman Mahon, 
Captain Hector Vandeleur, and Mr. Peter O'Brien. 
They are all equal in one respect — they are all Clare 
men. The first-named is a veteran, better known 
in Paris than in London, yet popular on his native 
heath. The name of O'Brien it is unnecessary to do 
more than mention in Clare. Connected with all the 
glories of the country, it is particularly knit into the 
everyday life of the county of its birth and its dwelling- 

28 



THE QUEEN v. PARNELL 29 

place. Mr. O'Brien is in favour of ' Tenant Right 
and Catholic Education Right.' " The article went 
on to predict that, were I to declare myself in favour 
of Home Rule, I would have a great chance of success. 
At a meeting held at Kilfenora, many declared them- 
selves personally favourable to me, and at this meet- 
ing it was suggested that I should be given time to 
alter (" amend " was the word used) that portion 
of my address which dealt with Home Rule. My 
address remained unchanged, and, at the close of the 
Poll, The O'Gorman Mahon stood at the top by a 
substantial majority. 

I took silk in 1880. The same year a State pro- 
secution was commenced against Mr. Parnell and 
others, the charge being one of seditious conspiracy. 
I was entrusted with the defence of Mr. T. D. Sullivan 
(proprietor of The Nation). Mr. Sullivan had always 
been a man of letters, and not until the year 1879 had 
he ever appeared upon a public platform. During 
this trial, known as the Queen v. Parnell, I met Mr. 
Parnell in consultation, and suggested to him that 
the Roman Catholic Bishops should be called upon 
to give evidence, as many of them had supported him, 
either by their presence at meetings or by letters. 
But Parnell, who, even in those days, had little affec- 
tion towards the Catholic Church (the action of the 
Irish Bishops after the divorce decree effectually split 
up his party), said: "Don't produce the Bishops; 
they would hedge"; and again emphatically re- 
peated: "Don't produce them; they would be sure 



30 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

to hedge." The State trial extended over a lengthy 
period. At first it excited much interest, and the 
court was crowded to suffocation, but after a while 
people wearied of it. The evidence was nearly all 
documentary; speeches were read and reread over 
and over again. Conspiracy is a loosely-defined 
offence, and it is difficult to define what constitutes 
it. This I pointed out to the jury, and told them 
that some think because a man uses an expression 
here, identical with an expression used by another 
man there, that that constitutes conspiracy, but 
that conspiracy was not coincidence of opinion. 
Alluding to the many speeches read in court, I said 
that all these speeches clearly showed a diversity of 
opinion, and revolved in one giddy throng of hete- 
rogeneous confusion and contradiction. I submitted 
that, therefore, the traversers could not be found 
guilty unless the jury was satisfied that there was an 
agreement between two or more of them. On the 
twentieth day of the State trial of the Queen v. Parnell, 
the foreman of the jury announced the result in these 
words: " We are unanimously of the opinion that 
we cannot agree"; and thus the trial ended. 



CHAPTER V 

THE LAND LEAGUE — MOONLIGHTERS 

The year 1880 was a bad year for Ireland. Great 
poverty and misery prevailed, as there had been 
three bad harvests in succession, and in 1879 the Land 
League was formed. At first the League attacked 
the land system, not the landlords, but, after a 
while, it outstepped the bounds of constitutional 
agitation, and sporadic outbreaks of agrarian crimes 
of the most revolting nature took place. Landlords 
or their agents were shot from behind hedges, and 
at night armed men raided the country. It was 
found all but impossible to bring the perpetrators of 
such crimes to justice. Witnesses were afraid to rome 
forward, jurors were intimidated by threatening 
letters, and often would not convict — a very serious 
state of affairs — perhaps the very worst evil that 
can befall a country, inasmuch as our civil rights and 
our criminal liabilities are dependent upon the fairness 
of the common jury. When concluding the Munster 
Assizes in the year 1880, Judge Fitzgerald assembled 
the Grand Jury, and told them that he felt much 
disheartened by the many failures of justice he had 
witnessed during the Assizes. This he attributed to 
external influences operating upon some of the com- 

31 



32 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

mon jurors, and preventing them from performing 
their duties. Even during the Assizes, while the 
law was being administered, there was no cessation 
of crime. The Judge himself received many threaten- 
ing letters, written in the hope of intimidating him. 
One of these, exceptionally vindictive in tone, he 
read from the Bench. The writer swore that worms 
would have their Christmas dinner of! the Judge's 
bones if he attempted to bring convictions against 
certain prisoners. Judge Fitzgerald, of course, treated 
these letters with the contempt they merited. 

The close of the year 1881 saw me Junior Crown 
Prosecutor for Green Street, and in 1883 I was 
appointed Senior Crown Prosecutor. By that time 
crime had enormously increased in the South of 
Ireland, and at the Winter Assizes the criminal calen- 
dar was so heavy that the Assizes did not conclude 
until about the middle of January. County Cork 
especially was in a very disturbed state. 

A band of ruffians, with " Captain Moonlight " 
at their head, raided the country almost nightly, 
making many attacks upon farm-houses, maim- 
ing cattle and committing many atrocities. The 
marauders disguised themselves by blackening their 
faces and wearing false whiskers. A man named 
Connell was at last arrested in connection with these 
midnight raids; he immediately turned approver, 
saying that he had informed because he thought the 
police would not have arrested him had not one of 
his gang given information. On the person of Connell, 



MOONLIGHTERS 33 

when searched, many incriminating documents were 
found, appointing raids by " regimental order of 
Captain Moonlight." I prosecuted in the case of 
Jeremiah and James Twohey, indicted, among other 
charges, for having broken into the house of a Mrs. 
FitzGerald, an old widow, who lived at the foot of 
Mushera Mountain. Her husband had died after a 
previous outrage. Connell, who proved to be no less 
a personage than Captain Moonlight himself, appeared 
in the witness-box to give evidence for the Crown. I 
said, in my address to the jury, " How often have we 
seen in the history of Ireland approvers come forward 
to expose a confederacy in which they themselves 
were steeped to the very lips, and how often have men 
been convicted on their evidence ! The evidence of 
such men ought to speak with trumpet tone to those 
unhappy people who form criminal confederacies. 
Such was the nature of the confederacies that there 
was no security for criminals, for the man who is a 
criminal to-day may be an approver to-morrow." 

Concerning the evidence of approvers, the Judge 
points out to the jury that such evidence should be 
corroborated. In the case of the Twoheys a dog was, 
if I may use the term in reference to an animal, the 
principal witness for the Crown. Mrs. FitzGerald 
became terrified on seeing a band of armed men 
invade her house, and failed to identify the invaders. 
She was struck on the head and was bleeding from 
the wound : her daughters, who were roughly handled, 
were also terrified by the appalling scene, and failed 

3 



U REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

to identify any of the miscreants, who were all dis- 
guised, save the Twoheys. A servant in Mrs. Fitz- 
Gerald's employment said in his evidence that the 
Twoheys took an active part in the attack. When 
the raiders had left Mrs. FitzGerald's house, a 
strange dog was found about the place, and this 
dog, " Sam," was proved to belong to James Twohey. 
Connell said that the dog had followed the Moon- 
lighters to Mrs. FitzGerald's house on the night of 
the attack, and that it was accidentally left behind. 
It was brought to the police-station, where it remained 
for some days, but no one came to claim it. Mr. 
Starkie, subinspector, and the late Captain Plunket* 
ascertained to whom the dog belonged. It was put 
into a bag and taken near the house of the Twoheys, 
where it was set free. Captain Plunket and Mr. 
Starkie watched ; the dog made straight for the 
house. Old Mrs. Twohey affected not to recognize 
it, as did her son James, though it manifested much 
joy at seeing them, wagging its tail and putting 
back its ears. When the police tried to remove it 
from the Twoheys, it would not leave; it evidently 
thought there was no place like home. 

Ammunition was found concealed on the premises, 
as were also false whiskers, wigs, and various dis- 
guises belonging to the Moonlighters. The dog, a 
most intelligent animal, was produced ir court. The 
jury found the prisoners guilty, and each was sen- 
tenced to seven years' penal servitude. 

* The Hon. Thomas Plunkett, Resident Magistrate for Cork. 
— Editob. 



CHAPTEB VI 

A MURDER TRIAL — STORMY AND STRENUOUS DAYS — A CLEVER 

IMPOSITION 

Another sensational trial in which I prosecuted at 
these Assizes was that of Sylvester Poff and Thomas 
Barrett, who were tried a second time for the murder 
of Thomas Brown, a farmer, who lived near Castle- 
island. A hard-working, respectable man, Brown's 
sole cause of offence was that he purchased some land 
from his landlord. The murder, a most brazen and 
callous one, took place in broad daylight in a field 
near a road, and was actually witnessed by some boys 
coming from school. Such was the state of terrorism 
which prevailed in the district that the assassins 
thought they had no cause to fear, as murder was 
becoming a safe crime in County Cork. The school- 
boys saw Brown working in a field. He was ap- 
proached by two men, who beckoned him, as if they 
wished to tell him something. The boys saw the 
men talking to Brown as if they were admonishing 
him, and he seemed to be asking pardon, hat in hand. 
The men then fired three shots at him; he rushed 
past his assassins and fell. Two more shots were 
discharged, and the two men made off. 
At the very moment of the murder Brown's wife 

35 



36 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

was standing only a few yards from the spot where 
the occurrence took place, speaking to a Mrs. Bros- 
nan, who stated that when she saw the men 
she felt " queer and frightful," and immediately 
apprised Mrs. Brown that two strangers were on 
Brown's farm. Mrs. Brown was not alarmed, and 
remarked that they were probably men coming from 
a funeral; but, not seeing her husband working in 
the fields, she went to look for him, and found him 
dead, a bullet having penetrated his brain. When in 
jail awaiting his trial, Poff made a statement to the 
effect that on the day of the murder, he, Barrett, 
and a man named Dunleary, went into the haggard 
of Patrick Fitzgerald, and while there Dunleary 
said it was a bad place to be, for Brown was to be 
shot there that day. The men to whom the terrible 
announcement was made never went to give a word 
of warning to save the unfortunate man's life. As 
is usual in Ireland in most of these criminal cases, it 
was said that the murder was committed by " stran- 
gers." It was very difficult to procure evidence for 
the Crown owing to an appalling state of demoraliza- 
tion. It was of paramount importance that the 
assassins of Brown should be brought to justice if 
the interests of justice were to be safeguarded. 

One of the lads who had witnessed the murder, 
said he could not recognize the assassins, as they 
were muffled and wore long cloaks, and in cross- 
examination it transpired that he was a relative of 
one of the accused men. 



A MURDER TRIAL 37 

Mrs. Brosnan made a remarkable statement to the 
effect that though she had cautioned Brown to be 
careful of himself, as she had seen Barrett watching 
his movements, she gave no information to the police. 
On the day of the murder she had met Pofr* and 
Barrett in the vicinity of Brown's farm. At the 
inquest on Brown she denied having seen them. In 
the meantime she said that she went to confession, 
and confessed to have made a false statement at the 
inquest. The priest told her that she could not again 
swear what was false, so in the trial she told the truth. 
The prisoners were very ably defended, but the 
Crown evidence against them was strong. 

In my reply on behalf of the Crown, I said : " The 
facts of the case are too unrelenting and too im- 
placable even for the eloquence and the energy of 
counsel for the defence, who said that there is 
nothing in the antecedents of the prisoners to induce 
the jury to believe that they would commit so foul a 
crime. The Crown could not have given any evidence 
as to their antecedents or character — by the rule of 
law they are precluded from doing so — but the pri- 
soners' counsel (not at the expense of the prisoners, 
but at the expense of the Crown) could, under the 
rules of the Winter Assizes procedure, have called 
any men they liked, priests and doctors who were in 
court, and have asked them what is the character of 
these men, whose lives are trembling in the balance. 
Notwithstanding that it was the privilege of my 
learned friends to procure evidence as to the char- 



38 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

acter of the men, none was produced, perhaps in the 
exercise of a very wise discretion. What character 
did the prisoners give of themselves ? Upon their 
own showing, what did they know and what did 
they abstain from doing ? They knew that Brown 
was to be shot; they saw him in Scartaglin that 
day; they walked by Mrs. Brosnan's house and 
close to the house of Mrs. Brown, and they did not 
tell her a word — the wife, the widow ! They saw 
Brown in Scartaglin, and they gave him no intima- 
tion of his coming doom; and these are the men in 
whose antecedents there is nothing to lead the jury 
to believe that they are anything but respectable ? 
Again, I invite the attention of the jury to the ac- 
count which the prisoners gave of themselves. What 
brought them to Fitzgerald's house that day ?" 
In dealing with the suggestion that strangers had 
committed the crime, I pointed out that in Limerick, 
whenever a murder was committed, the murderers 
came from New Pallas; in Clare, when a murder was 
committed, they came over the Broadford hills from 
Tipperary; and when a murder was committed in 
Kerry, the murderers came from Castleisland ! 
" And," I added, " I am surprised that in this case 
counsel did not describe them as some meteoric visi- 
tants dropping from the moon ! What brought the 
prisoners to Pat Fitzgerald's that morning ? " Having 
then reviewed the evidence, I wound up by saying: 
" If you have any doubt, as reasonable men, let the 
prisoners go free; but, if you have no reasonable 



STORMY AND STRENUOUS DAYS 39 

doubt, then do your duty. Let not the assassins of 
Thomas Brown go scot-free back to Castleisland to 
what, we submit, is the scene of their slaughter and 
their crime. The blood of the victim, the tears of 
the widow, the wail of the orphans, appeal to you; 
your country and your God appeal to you; the prin- 
ciples of our common Christianity appeal to you, to 
smite with the sword of your justice these monsters 
of crime, who have fed upon the blood of your country- 
men with viperous fang, and who have desolated the 
once happy homes of our native land." 

The jury, after half an hour's deliberation, returned 
a verdict of guilty, and the prisoners were sentenced 
to death. 

From the time that I was appointed Senior Crown 
Prosecutor at Green Street, my work was very heavy, 
and my life extremely strenuous and stormy. In the 
long vacation we generally went abroad, and amidst 
fresh scenes and pastures new, I desired to forget law 
and Irish politics. During my holidays I made it a 
rule to read the Irish newspapers as little as possible. 
Occasionally, when a few days were at my disposal, I 
would pay a brief visit to my brother's place in Clare. 
My native air always set me up when I was feeling 
overworked or run down. Once, when on one of 
these short visits to my native wilds, I was the victim 
of an imposition which was not without an element 
of humour. 

One day we were told that two nuns had called 
and desired an interview with my brother. This 



40 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

was readily granted, and the two nuns were ushered 
into the room. One was tall and very voluble, the 
other was the possessor of very fine eyes, but was 
silent and demure. The talkative nun, who acted 
as spokeswoman, told us that they had come from 
America to this country on a begging mission, the 
object of which was to collect sufficient money to build 
a Catholic church in some wild region in America, 
where Catholics had no place of worship. The tall 
nun talked so earnestly, and with apparently so much 
pious zeal, that she induced my brother to give her 
a large donation towards the building of the projected 
church, and I followed his example. 

She thanked us profusely, and her demure com- 
panion shot us a look of deep gratitude from her fine 
eyes. The spokeswoman then asked if she might 
collect among the servants. Permission was readily 
granted, and, the household having all contributed 
according to their means, the nuns again thanked us 
and departed. They appeared in church on the 
following Sunday, and the parish priest allowed 
a collection to be made for them at the door. Some 

weeks later I met Father P , our pastor, and, in 

the course of conversation, said to him: " Well, what 
has become of the good nuns ? Have they returned 
to America ?" A strange and rather shamefaced 
expression passed over his countenance. " Haven't 
you heard ?" he said. " They were not nuns; they 
were a couple of skilled impostors going through the 
county collecting money. They were man and wife. 



A CLEVER IMPOSITION 41 

The smaller and slighter was the man." Poor 
Father P felt very sore at having been so success- 
fully imposed upon, and whenever I wished to get 
the better of him in any political argument or other- 
wise, I had only to say: " Well, Father, I think you 
are mistaken. We are all liable to make mistakes. 
Do you remember how you, a priest, were deceived 
by those soi-disant nuns ?" After which remark, our 
worthy pastor was wont to lapse into gloomy silence. 



CHAPTER VII 

TRIAL OP FRANCIS HYNES — " PETER THE PACKER " — A 
HUMOROUS JARVEY 

In August, 1882, at Green Street Court-house, Francis 
Hynes was charged with the murder of John 
Doloughty. On the 9th of August, on the roadside 
at Knockanane, in Clare, Doloughty was found in 
a dying condition. He had had a dispute about 
land with Francis Hynes some time before the 
murder. The case excited much interest, as Hynes 
was far superior in class to the ordinary criminal. 
He was the son of a professional man. A con- 
stable named Doyle, on hearing that Doloughty 
was shot, went down the road for about four 
miles beyond where Doloughty was found, and 
saw Hynes on the road. When he was asked 
what brought him there, he said he had come for 
a ramble. " How long have you been here ?" the 
constable asked. " A couple of hours," Hynes 
replied. The constable arrested Hynes, and, on 
searching him, found in his pocket a package of 
snipe shot which corresponded in size with that 
which was afterwards found in the head of the mur- 
dered man, who, before he expired, said several times : 
" It was Francy Hynes who did it." Doloughty 

42 



TRIAL OF FRANCIS HYNES 43 

was shot from the front, and therefore must have 
seen his assassin. The evidence against Hynes was 
overwhelming, and the sympathy felt for him was 
difficult to understand. Doloughty left a widow 
and seven children unprovided for, and James 
Murphy,* in his forcible reply for the Crown, 
pointed out the amazing fact that no sympathy was 
felt for this unfortunate man. Hynes was found 
guilty and sentenced to death. The verdict was 
a signal for an outcry in the Nationalist Press, as, 
indeed, was then generally the case when any verdict 
favourable to the Crown was brought in, no matter 
how heinous the offence. There were frequent and 
systematic attacks on jurors. In the case of Hynes 
the attack was of a very shocking nature, and, if 
conscientious verdicts were to be obtained, and 
jurors protected, if could not be passed over. An 
article appeared in the Freeman's Journal in refer- 
ence to this case. This article contained an attack 
upon the jury, and stated that the jurors were under 
the influence of drink the night before the verdict 
was given. Mr. Dwyer Gray, the proprietor of 
the Freeman, was summoned for contempt of Court, 
and was ordered to pay a fine, or undergo a term of 
imprisonment. He chose the latter course. 

It was during these days of the Land League that 

the soubriquet of " Peter the Packer " was first 

given to me. In the South of Ireland at that time, 

juries were intimidated to such an extent that it was 

* Mr. James Murphy, Q.C., subsequently a Judge. 



44 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

impossible to obtain conscientious convictions. I 
was the first to succeed in getting a jury to convict 
in that part of the country, and this success won for 
me the title of " The Packer." I certainly eliminated 
from the jury box, without apology, those who were 
prejudiced, and I would do it again under similar 
circumstances. I have always maintained that I 
ought to have been called " The Great Unpacker." 

This soubriquet of " Peter the Packer " gave rise 
to many incidents which caused me no little amuse- 
ment. Once I cross-examined a peasant named 
Bridget Maloney. In my endeavour to elicit the 
truth from her I said, persuasively: " Come, come, 
Bridget; tell the jury what occurred." The lady 
drew herself up majestically, pulled her shawl over 
her head, and said: " Mrs. Maloney to you, Pether, 
if you please." When I had at last succeeded in 
getting at the truth, the good lady, before leaving 
the witness-box, crossed herself devoutly, and, fixing 
an indignant gaze on me, exclaimed : " Glory be to 
God. What a man !" 

On another occasion, shortly after my elevation to 
the Bench, I happened to be travelling on the Great 
Southern and Western line. I was sitting by the 
window of the carriage which had been reserved for me. 
The train stopped at Maryboro', where it was fair 
day. On the platform there was the usual crowd 
one sees in Irish stations on such days. A number 
of idlers had gathered round and were staring into 
the carriage. One man, who had been looking at 



A HUMOROUS JARVEY 45 

me more intently than the others, suddenly ex- 
claimed, as he pointed tome:" Begorra, it's the Packer 
himself, boys !" 

I was much amused, and the saying of the late 
Lord Morris came into my mind: " More people know 
Tom the fool than Tom the fool knows." 

Once when prosecuting in Sligo at the Assizes I 
had a very amusing experience. 

I had been in court all the morning, and, feeling 
the need of fresh air, decided to utilize a little leisure 
time in the afternoon by taking a drive. I secured 
the services of a most loquacious and humorous 
jarvey, who affected ignorance of my identity, 
probably in order to give me his views on things in 
general and on myself in particular. As we were 
driving away, he pointed with his whip to the court- 
house, saying, " That's a terrible hard man inside." 

" I believe he is a man with an indifferent reputa- 
tion," I answered mildly. 

" You may well say so," he replied. The man 
could appreciate scenery, and took me for a beautiful 
drive, at the end of which I handed him his fare with 
a substantial pourboire. Looking at the coin and 
then at me, he expressed his thanks by saying, 
1 Well, after all, the divil isn't as black as he's 
painted." 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE MAAMSTRASNA MASSACRE — TRIAL OF THE JOYCES 

In August, 1882, the ghastly and blood-curdling 
Maamstrasna massacre took place. This nocturnal 
murder of a defenceless family is unparalleled in 
inhuman ferocity in the gloomy annals of agrarian 
crime. The scene of the murder was Maamstrasna, 
that wild region in Connemara] known as the 
Joyce-country, where nearly all the peasants bear 
the name of Joyce. In that lonely and remote 
district, at the foot of a mountain, the cottage of 
John Joyce was situated. Joyce, an industrious 
man, was erroneously supposed to have given some 
information with reference to the murder of two 
bailiffs named Huddy, who had been in the employ- 
ment of Lord Ardilaun. These men had been 
murdered, and their bodies, tied up in sacks, had 
been thrown into Lough Mask. 

Joyce and his family were attacked about one 
o'clock when in bed. He was shot, and his son 
Michael mortally wounded, a bullet having pierced 
his stomach. 

In November following the murder, before Mr. 
Justice Barry, Patrick Joyce, Patrick Joyce (John), 
Thomas Joyce (Pat), Michael Casey, Thomas Casey, 

46 



TRIAL OF THE JOYCES 47 

Patrick Casey, John Casey, Martin Joyce, Myles 

Joyce, and Anthony Philbin were arraigned on 

an indictment charging them with the murder 

of John Joyce, Michael Joyce, Bridget Joyce, 

Margaret Joyce, senior, and Margaret Joyce, junior. 

As the prisoners spoke Irish only, there was an 

interpreter in court. For the most part they 

looked respectable enough, but Myles Joyce had a 

singularly unpleasant countenance. They were 

tried separately, and pleaded not guilty. Patrick 

Joyce was first placed in the dock, but the 

trial was postponed until Monday, as Philbin and 

Thomas Casey became informers. Nearly everybody 

involved in the case seemed to be named Joyce. The 

most important Crown witness was one Anthony 

Joyce, who told the jury that on the night of the 

murder he was awakened by the barking of a dog. 

He went to the window, and, looking out, saw men 

coming along the road. The witness said that he 

thought there was *' bad work " on hand, and, 

thinking that the men intended to attack his brother's 

house, he slipped out, and concealed himself behind 

a wall in advance of the men. When six of them 

had passed him, he ran by a short cut through the 

fields to his brother's house, and awakened his brother 

and his brother's son. Unperceived, they watched 

the six men. At a place called Derrypark the six 

were joined by four others, who came out of Michael 

Casey's house. The three men watching saw the ten 

men take the road to Maamstrasna, but, after a while, 



48 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

in order to avoid observation, they took a circuitous 
route through a bog to the cabin of John Joyce, while 
the three watchers hurried on by the direct road, and, 
when they had reached John Joyce's cottage, lay 
down concealing themselves in some bushes. After 
a few minutes the terrified men in ambush heard the 
door of John Joyce's cottage being taken off its 
hinges, and then they heard shots and screams, after 
which all was silence, the silence of death. Horror- 
stricken, the listeners fled homewards, fearing that 
they, too, might be done to death. Patrick Joyce, 
whom I examined, identified nine of the prisoners; 
Anthony Philbin, the approver, corroborated the 
evidence of Anthony and Patrick Joyce. He said he 
had seen a revolver with the prisoner that night, and 
that the accused had helped to break i'n the door of 
Joyce's cottage. 

Thomas Casey, the other approver, corroborated 
Philbin's evidence. The little boy, Patrick Joyce, the 
sole survivor of the unfortunate family, was produced 
to give evidence. He was so ignorant that he did 
not know the nature of an oath, and could not be 
examined. The scars on his head were pointed out 
to the jury, who, after an absence of eight minutes, 
returned to court with a verdict of guilty. The 
prisoner heard the verdict unmoved, but Judge 
Barry, who had the kindest of hearts, wept when he 
sentenced him to death. The next prisoner tried was 
Patrick Casey, who was also found guilty. The third 
prisoner, Myles Joyce, was tried for the murder of the 



TRIAL OF THE JOYCES 49 

girl, Margaret Joyce, on whom the most revolting 
cruelty had been practised. He was a cousin of the 
murdered man — a fact which made the crime even 
more appalling. The prisoner tried to establish an alibi, 
but completely failed; he was found guilty and also 
sentenced to death. The other prisoners pleaded guilty 
and received a similar sentence, but were afterwards 
reprieved, and the death sentences commuted to 
penal servitude for life. Undoubtedly these men 
belonged to some secret society the object of which 
was the assassination of all people whom they con- 
sidered obnoxious. 

Two men named Nee and Kelly, supposed to be 
the instigators of the crime, escaped, and were pro- 
bably in hiding on the shores of Lough Mask, whence 
they must have fled the country. 

During the trial of Myles Joyce, my brief in the 
case was abstracted from my brief-bag, and was 
missing for three years. To the brief were attached 
some names from the jury panel, and in the mar- 
ginal note was the letter C, which indicated that the 
Crown would exercise its prerogative to challenge. 

In 1885, during the debate in the House known as 
the Maamstrasna debate, my brief, the letter C on 
which was represented as meaning Catholic, was 
produced by one of the Nationalist members of 
Parliament, in order to support the statement that I 
had endeavoured to prevent Catholics from serving 
on juries. My object was not to exclude Catholics 
or Protestants from the jury, but to get men thereon 

4 



50 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

who would do their duty fearlessly. During this 
debate, when the good faith of Irish Judges and 
juries was impeached, Sir William Harcourt called 
attention to the fact that, on the trial of the first of 
the Maamstrasna prisoners, there were five Catholics 
on the jury. He also quoted the following extract 
from United Ireland : 

" On the trial of the first prisoner we may venture 
for once to point out that there were at least five 
Catholics on the jury, and we believe the Catholic 
jurors did their duty no less fearlessly, and their 
verdict will be approved and scrupulously respected." 



CHAPTER IX 

THE IRISH INVINCIBLES — THE PHCENIX PARK MURDERS 

That terrible secret organization known as the Irish 
Invincible Society was established in Dublin in the 
early eighties. Evolved from Fenianism, this society 
had for its object the murder, or " removal " (as the 
Invincibles expressed it), of those who had incurred 
its displeasure. The form of conspiracy advocated 
by this society was the lowest ever known in Ireland, 
or, perhaps, in any other country. The Fenians of 
'98 and 1803 aimed at the overthrow of English 
rule in Ireland by rebellion and bloodshed; the 
Invincibles relied upon the knife of the assassin to 
accomplish their ends. This recrudescence of Fen- 
ianism was responsible for a series of street murders. 
In February, 1881, a Fenian named Bailey was shot 
in a laneway, because he was suspected of having 
given information to the police. A large reward was 
offered for information which would lead to the con- 
viction of the murderer, but every effort to find him 
was unavailing. Shortly afterwards another Fenian, 
named Kenny, was also shot in the street. Judge 
Lawson was on his way to the Kildare Street Club 
one evening when an attempt was made to assassi- 

51 



52 BEMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

nate him, and Detective Cox was fired at and wounded 
while watching the movements of a gang of Invin- 
cibles. Mr. Field, who had acted as the foreman of 
a jury in the case of a man named Walsh, who 
had been convicted for the murder of a constable, was 
set upon by four armed men, jostled against a 
railing, and stabbed. Badly wounded, he fell to the 
ground, and was stabbed again several times. It was 
only by feigning death that he saved his life. The 
Invincibles Curley and Carey were arrested on sus- 
picion after the Phoenix Park murders, but were 
released in a short time, as it was impossible to 
bring their guilt home to them, owing to lack of 
evidence. 

The Invincibles had over and over again planned 
the assassination of Mr. W. E. Forster, then Chief 
Secretary for Ireland, but some strange intervention 
of Providence frustrated their designs. 

I think it was on the Wednesday before the Phoenix 
Park murders that Mr. Forster finally quitted Ireland. 
On the evening of the same day, Sir Edward Carson 
(then Mr. Carson) and I went to Westland Row to 
wish Mr. Forster good-bye. We heard at the station 
that he had gone to Kingstown earlier in the day, 
and would dine there before going on board. Little 
did we know that there were fifteen Invincibles on 
the platform at the time waiting to stab the Chief 
Secretary ! It was not until the trial of the Invin- 
cibles that we realized how narrowly he had escaped 
death that evening at Westland Row. Carey, the 



THE PHGENIX PARK MURDERS 53 

informer, said at that trial that fifteen mem- 
bers of the society were waiting at the station 
with the intention of assassinating Mr. Forster as he 
entered the train. 

That never-to-be-forgotten tragedy of the 6th May, 
1882, when Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke 
were stabbed to death, took place about seven o'clock 
on a lovely evening in the Park. The bodies of both 
victims, when discovered very shortly after the 
murder, were much mutilated. The wounds were 
caused by some sharp-edged instruments. Immedi- 
ately after the murder, a car, upon which were five 
persons, was seen going at a desperate pace in the direc- 
tion of one of the Park gates known as the Chapelizod 
gate. It was early in January, 1883, that twenty-one 
Invincibles were arrested, and a few days later Robert 
Farrell, who had been a Fenian, gave information to 
the police which resulted in the committal for trial of 
the following persons on the charge of murder: 
Joseph Brady, Daniel Curley, Timothy Kelly, Michael 
Fagan, Edward McCaffrey, James Mullett, Joseph 
Mullett, Patrick Delaney, Daniel Delaney, George 
Smith, James Fitzharris, Thomas Martin, Peter Carey, 
Edward O'Brien, Peter Doyle, Joseph Hanlon, 
Laurence Hanlon, William Moroney, Thomas Cafrrey, 
Patrick Whelan, and Henry Rowles, who died in 
prison shortly after his arrest. 

On the 11th of April, Joe Brady was the first of 
the Invincibles indicted for the murder of Mr. 
Burke. Judge O'Brien presided. The Crown counsel 



54 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

were the Attorney-General, Mr. Andrew Porter,* 
John Naish,f James Murphy, and myself. 

The court-house represented a remarkable scene 
during these trials. The prison van was guarded 
by cavalry escort, as it was feared that some attempt 
might be made to rescue the prisoners. The Judge 
went to court accompanied by detectives armed with 
revolvers, and the Crown counsel were also under 
protection. 

Dr. Webb, Q.C., Denis B. Sullivan, and Richard 
Adams defended Brady, who was one of the inner 
circle of the Invincibles — that is to say, he belonged 
to what was known among his confederates as the 
assassination club. 

Much interest was taken in Carey, the informer, who 
gave his evidence in a cool, collected, and nonchalant 
manner. He was a well-dressed man of respectable 
appearance, with a sinister expression of countenance. 
I am perfectly convinced he could have given more 
information had he chosen. I remember Carey 
turning to Dr. Webb, who was subjecting him to a 
severe cross-examination, and saying, " I am only 
answering what they ask me; I know a great deal 
more. I am more friendly to you, Dr. Webb, than 
you think; bear that in mind." 

The prisoner presented a different appearance 
from Carey. Brady was a great, strong, determined- 
looking young man. On the morning of the trial he 
leant over the dock as if to assault Carey, who gave 

* Afterwards Sir Andrew Porter. f Then Solicitor-General. 



THE PHCENIX PARK MURDERS 55 

his evidence as if he were talking over the most 
ordinary events. He stated that he had himself 
pointed out Mr. Burke to the prisoner, saying, 
" Mind it is the man in grey," before giving the 
signal for assassination. Carey was the paymaster 
of the Irish Invincibles, and had formerly belonged 
to the Fenian Brotherhood. In his evidence he said 
that, after the murders, Brady told him that he had 
followed Mr. Burke, put his hand on his shoulder, and 
stabbed him; and that Lord Frederick Cavendish 
(whom Brady did not know) struck him with an 
umbrella, and called him a ruffian, at which Brady 
said: " I got annoyed, and, following him out into 
the road, settled him there. When I looked round 
I saw Tim Kelly near Mr. Burke, whereupon I went 
over to where Kelly had left Mr. Burke, and cut his 
throat, wiping my knife in the grass." Carey said 
seven men were assigned to what he called " the 
work," but that it was Brady and Kelly who actually 
committed the deed. 

In all my experience as an advocate, I never heard 
of a murder so callously and coolly executed. A few 
minutes before its occurrence Carey had been an in- 
terested spectator of a polo match on the Nine Acres, 
and had remarked that it was " the first time he had 
seen the game, which was a right good one." 

Smith, one of the Invincibles, worked at the Castle, 
and was familiar with the appearance of Mr. Burke. 
He was decoyed into joining the society in order that 
he might point him out to the assassins, who did not 



56 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

even know him by sight. Smith declared that he 
was so overcome with horror and fright at the work 
assigned to him that he " shook like a sheet in the 
wind." He knew well that, were he to object to 
carry out the orders of the Invincibles, he would 
forfeit his own life. Indeed, the Invincibles, before 
the Park trial, had decided to do away with Kava- 
nagh, the car-driver, and Smith, whom they had used 
as tools. Carey stated the objects of the society 
were, in the first place, to make history, and, in the 
next place, to remove all the principal tyrants in 
the country. He told the jury how the Invincible 
Society came to be established in Dublin by a man 
who went by the name of Walsh. The men selected 
for the society were sworn on a knife. Walsh, having 
enrolled Carey, James Mullett, Curley, and McCaffrey, 
informed them that the names put upon the removal 
list by the society in London were those of Mr. 
Forster and Lord Cowper, to which Mr. Burke's name 
was added afterwards. On this occasion Walsh gave 
Carey fifty sovereigns. Carey stated that Walsh in- 
troduced him to a man named Sheridan, who was 
disguised as a priest. With this individual Carey 
arranged that weapons should be brought over to 
Ireland for the purpose of assassination. Shortly 
afterwards, a woman, supposed to be Mrs. Frank 
Byrne, wife of the secretary of the Land League in 
London, brought Carey a consignment of weapons. 
Carey further stated that a mysterious person, whose 
name he had never discovered, but whom he knew by 



THE PHCENIX PAKE MURDERS 57 

the name of No. 1, used frequently to call on him and 
give him sums of money. This man was a Fenian 
named Tynan. These organizers of the Invincible 
Society were of a better station in life than their tools, 
and were in command of money. Before the Phoenix 
Park trials, Tynan, Sheridan, and the man Walsh, 
escaped to the United States. Those of the Invin- 
cibles, known as the inner circle, were accustomed 
to hold courts martial upon anyone suspected of giving 
information. I examined Michael Kavanagh, the 
car-driver, one of the four approvers who gave evi- 
dence in Brady's trial. He stated that, terrified and 
trembling all over, he drove Kelly and Brady from 
the scene of the murder at racing speed. 

One could not help feeling sorry for dupes like 
Smith and Kavanagh, who were deceived and misled, 
and who acted at the dictates of ruffians such as Carey 
and Tynan, who, when the game was up, either in- 
formed or sought refuge in America. 

If any Invincible was told to be at a particular 
place, there he had to be, and it was often only before 
the occasion arose that he was told what he was to 
do. Sometimes a man's courage would fail at the last 
moment, as in the case of Patrick Delaney. He had 
been told off to assassinate Judge Lawson, and, feel- 
ing he could not do so, touched one of the Judge's 
detectives, and having thus called attention to him- 
self, was arrested, pistol in hand. The result of 
Brady's trial was a foregone conclusion. Both ap- 
provers, Smith and Kavanagh, swore that Brady was 



58 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

present in the Park at the time of the murder, Kava- 
nagh having been an eyewitness of the deed. A Park 
ranger and several other witnesses identified the 
prisoner as one of the men whom they had seen at 
the Park when the murder was committed. A young 
girl was the principal witness for the defence. She 
swore to having gone for a walk with Brady on the 
night of the 6th. On cross-examination it transpired 
that she was a personal friend of the prisoner, and 
was evidently keeping company with him. 

Brady was found guilty (as Judge O'Brien said, 
before passing sentence of death), " upon cumulative 
and overwhelming evidence : evidence such as to pre- 
clude any intelligent person from entertaining any 
doubt of his guilt." 

Daniel Curley was the second of the Invincibles 
tried, and the evidence was practically the same as 
in the case of Brady. All the informers were ex- 
amined, Peter Carey, the brother of James Carey, 
being added to their number. Evidence was given 
to show that the prisoner had been in charge of the 
arrangements for the assassination of Mr. Burke and 
Lord Frederick Cavendish on the 6th of May. It 
was, of course, necessary to satisfy the jury that 
Curley had been actually seen in the Park on the day 
of the murder, and a servant-girl who had at one 
time been in service at the Chief Secretary's Lodge 
identified Curley. She stated that she saw " the 
scuffle " taking place in the Park, and that while she 
was feeling terrified, Curley had come towards her, 



THE PHCENIX PAKK MURDERS 59 

and that his face was for ever stamped on her memory. 
True, she had seen it for only a second, but what a 
haunting and abiding memory it must have been — 
the face of a murderer on the scene of a murder ! 
Curley, before sentence of death was passed upon 
him, made a long speech in which he asserted his 
innocence, and denounced informers, though it was 
known to the Crown counsel that he had offered to 
turn Queen's evidence. Carey had, however, fore- 
stalled him by an hour's time. " I was an hour before 
you, Dan," Carey had said to the prisoner at the 
magisterial investigation, meaning thereby that he 
had been the first to offer information. 

The jury having disagreed twice in the case of 
Tim Kelly, the third Invincible, Michael Fagan, was 
put on trial. In his case a dramatic incident occurred. 
Two witnesses, a Mrs. McMahon and her married 
daughter (a Mrs. Forester, the wife of a journalist), 
came forward to prove an alibi for the defence. Mrs. 
McMahon, an elderly woman of nice appearance, 
said that she had come from Liverpool at great ex- 
pense and inconvenience, solely in order that justice 
might be done to the prisoners. Mrs. McMahon 
stated that Fagan had been with her and her daughter 
at about a quarter past seven o'clock on the night 
of the murder. When adroitly cross-examined by 
the Attorney-General, she said that she did not 
know her son-in-law Forester's address. On cross-ex- 
amination it transpired that her son-in-law had left 
Dublin at the time of the arrest in connection with 



60 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

the Park murders, and that she herself and her 
daughter had also left Dublin shortly before the trial. 
On being asked if her son-in-law took a considerable 
interest in Irish politics, she briefly replied, " I don't 
know." The Attorney-General, however, pressed the 
question: " Come, madam," he said; " was Forester 
a Fenian centre here in Dublin — perfectly well-known 
on the directorate of the Fenian organization ?" 
The good lady, affecting an air of complete innocence, 
answered the question by putting another: 
" How can I tell V she asked. 
Judge O'Brien bade her answer " Yes " or " No." 
She then said: " I know nothing." 
When she was asked how she came to make the 
prisoner's acquaintance, she said she knew him through 
his coming to see her son-in-law, and she admitted 
that he had been coming to see Forester for a con- 
siderable time. She was then asked how Forester 
came to be acquainted with Fagan, to which question 
she replied by saying that she could not tell. The 
Attorney-General once more pressed her for her son- 
in-law's address, of which she again pleaded ignorance. 
" Are you on bad terms with him, then, that you 
don't know his address ?" she was asked. 
" No, sir," she replied. 
" Did you ever hear of his being arrested ?" 
The witness admitted that she had. 
" Where V she was asked. 
" In Liverpool." 
" When ?" asked the Attorney-General. 



THE PHCENIX PARK MURDERS 61 

" Many years ago, before he met my daughter." 

" Was he ever arrested in this city ?" 

" No, I never heard of it." 

" Used he to carry a revolver ?" 

" No, sir; I never saw one." 

It was at this juncture that the dramatic incident 
took place. A constable was directed to stand for- 
ward, and the Attorney-General, pointing to him, 
said : " Supposing it was deposed by that man that he 
arrested him in Camden Street with a six-chambered 
revolver in his pocket — would that be accurate ?" 

On further cross-examination, it transpired that 
the very respectable-looking Mrs. McMahon was 
herself arrested in company with her husband at the 
house of Joseph Mullett, on the day that the latter 
was arrested for having attempted the assassination 
of Mr. Field. The McMahons were released next 
day, and the lady's husband left Ireland for ever. 
Her son-in-law was also a fugitive from justice, so 
that her evidence had a most damaging effect on the 
prisoner's case, and showed clearly that he belonged 
to the Fenian Brotherhood. He was sentenced to 
death. 

Kelly was the last prisoner who expiated his crime 
on the scaffold. Though barely twenty years of age, 
he was one of the most desperate of the Invincibles, 
and was one of the men who had been actually en- 
gaged in the attack on Mr. Field. I was told that 
Kelly had gone to a well-known photographer's to 
buy the photographs of the Crown Prosecutors, James 



62 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

Murphy and myself. He wished to possess them in 
order that he might identify us for the purpose of 
assassination. Luckily the photographer refused to 
sell or show him the photographs. In those days 
one went about with one's life in one's hands. Judge 
O'Brien was supposed to be a doomed man, and four 
detectives kept constant watch over him. I, too, 
was under police protection for a considerable time. 

At the first and second trial of Kelly there was 
some difficulty in identifying him as having been one 
of the Invincibles in the Park on the evening of the 
6th of May, but at the third trial his guilt was clearly 
established. An Invincible named Hanlon, who was 
examined for the first time, swore he had seen the 
prisoner on the scene of the murder, and Kavanagh, 
the car-driver, deposed to having driven him from 
it. Counsel for the defence impeached Kavanagh's 
testimony on the ground that it was not reliable, 
owing to his having taken drink that day. Carey 
swore that Kelly was there; and Huxley, a gardener 
in the service of the Guinness family at Farmleigh, 
stated that he had seen Kelly get off Kavanagh's car. 

The Invincibles Caffrey and Delaney pleaded guilty 
to the charge of murder, and were sentenced to death. 
Delaney's sentence was commuted to penal servitude 
for life. Fitzharris, a cab-driver, who drove Smith 
and Garey to the Park on the night of the murders, 
was indicted for having aided and abetted the mur- 
derers of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke, 
and was sentenced to lifelong imprisonment. 



THE PHCENIX PARK MURDERS 63 

Laurence Hanlon and Joseph Mullett, tried for the 
attempted assassination of Mr. Field, were sentenced 
to penal servitude for life. Mr. Field received no less 
than six wounds. Joe Brady, under sentence of death 
at Kilmainham Prison, had over and over again struck 
at him. The remaining Invincibles pleaded guilty 
of having unlawfully conspired to murder certain 
public officers of Her Majesty's Government, and were 
sentenced to various periods of imprisonment. The 
Government, fearing for Carey's safety, sent him to 
South Africa, but, ere he reached Cape Town, he 
was shot by Francis O'Donnell, a Fenian. 



CHAPTER X 

JUDGE O'BRIEN. (BY THE EDITOR) 

When I was a small child I remember my father 
stopping in the street to speak to a tall, thin man, 
shadowed by numerous detectives. 

"Shake hands with Judge O'Brien, child," said 
my father, as I hung back shyly. 

" Bonjour, Mademoiselle, bonjour. J'espere que 
vous allez bien, Mademoiselle!" exclaimed the Judge. 

Such was my first introduction to the Judge who 
tried the Invincibles, and who was a very remarkable 
person in many ways. I was much surprised at his 
addressing me in French, which was spoken in the 
musical accents of the South of Ireland, but was 
afterwards told that it was a mark of approval on 
his part, as he was very fond of French and the 
French people. His voice had a strange rolling 
intonation, which reminded me of the deep-swelling 
notes of an organ, played in some vast cathedral, 
or of waves booming against the cliffs. It was 
impossible for anyone who had once heard him 
speak ever to forget his voice. His long, lean, in- 
telligent face was lighted by the eyes of an ascetic. 
An extremely devout Catholic, he might be seen 
every morning at an early hour walking to Westland 

64 



JUDGE O'BRIEN 65 

Row Church, with detectives in front of him and 
detectives behind him. Oddly enough, the Invin- 
cibles Brady and Carey, who masked their evil doings 
by professing extreme piety, attended the same church 
as did Judge O'Brien. I have heard that Brady 
actually took the offertory at the church door, so that 
in all probability Judge and criminal were known to 
each other by sight before the Phoenix Park trial. 

Judge O'Brien lived in the most frugal manner, 
although the owner of a very fine house, and a most 
marvellous collection of Dresden china. He pos- 
sessed many valuable books, and some very beautiful 
illuminated missals. He was frequently to be seen 
prowling round second-hand book-shops on the 
look-out for rare editions, the detectives waiting 
patiently while he made his purchases. He gave 
very large sums for rare books, which he left to 
the Jesuits. Judge O'Brien was rather careless 
about dress, his usual garb being a shabby snuff- 
coloured suit. The following story is told about him. 
On one occasion, when he was to open the Assizes, 
the Sheriff's carriage was, according to custom, wait- 
ing at the station with the usual escort of soldiers. 
On alighting from the train, the Judge stepped into 
the carriage, and the door was closed. Just as the 
escort was about to move off he espied his bag, which 
contained important papers, on the platform, his 
crier having forgotten it. Silently, and in great 
haste, he scrambled out of the carriage, unobserved, 
with the view of getting the bag. When he turned 



66 REMINISCENCES OF LOUD O'BRIEN 

to re-enter the carriage, lo and behold ! the escort 
of soldiers had trotted off at either side of the empty 
vehicle, and the judge was left standing, bag in hand, 
at the station, unrecognized. The escort and carriage 
reached the court-house, the door was thrown open, 
the soldiers saluted, but no Judge alighted. The 
Sheriff stood hatless and bewildered, when, all at 
once, a sorry-looking fly appeared on the scene, from 
which the Judge emerged breathless, with bag in hand. 
Though it was predicted that Judge O'Brien would 
never die in his bed, he lived to old age. He 
never married, and was supposed to be a misogynist, 
but was very fond of young people. My sister 
and I, when children, were often invited to his 
house, where he made us very happy by permitting 
us to inspect his collection of Dresden china shep- 
herds and shepherdesses and his beautiful missals. 



CHAPTER XI 

EARL SPENCER — SIR REDVERS BULLER 

In the bad times a familiar figure to be seen in the 
streets of Dublin was that of the Viceroy, Lord Spencer, 
riding in the centre of an armed escort of Lancers, 
whose flashing swords plainly testified their readiness 
in case of emergency. Lord Spencer was supposed 
to be in constant peril of death at the hands of 
assassins. His life while in Ireland must have been 
little short of martyrdom ; he could not move without 
a body of armed men. Daily the Nationalist Press 
poured the most virulent abuse upon him. When 
reading these attacks one wondered whether the lan- 
guage of vituperation had not been exhausted, and 
yet, when he declared himself in favour of Home Rule, 
those who had abused him most were readiest with ful- 
some adulation, or, as Mr. William O'Brien put it, 
" were the first to black his boots." 

Lord Spencer had many of the qualities which 
appeal to the Irish people. He was courageous and 
dignified, and there was something of the gra?id 
seigneur about him; but what appealed to them 
most was his love of sport. He was a most fearless 
rider to hounds, and one day, when riding with 
the Waterford Hounds, " took a great toss," 

67 



68 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

as we say in Ireland. The meet was at Curragh- 
more. The country people had all turned out " to 
view the Lord Liftenant." The Waterford people 
were justly proud of the prowess of the Beresfords in 
the saddle, and were a little alarmed lest they might 
be cut down riding, inasmuch as it was known that 
Lord Spencer was ' a terrible hard man to hounds." 
The hounds in full cry came to a huge stone wall, 
nearly five feet in height; most of the hunt turned 
away, but not so Lord Spencer, who, without a mo- 
ment's hesitation, rode at the wall in the stiffest 
place, with the result that he came a cropper. At 
the same moment the voice of a country yokel was 
heard calling out: "Lord Marcus, Lord Charles, for 
the love of God, ride like the divil — the Lord Lif- 
tenant is stretched !" 

When Lord Spencer in 1885 declared himself a 
Home Ruler, it was indeed a bolt from the blue, and 
great was the surprise of Ireland. I was told that 
he went to see Mr. Gladstone to tell him of his 
determined opposition to the Home Rule Bill. During 
the interview Mr. Gladstone used all his eloquence 
and persuasive powers, and after two hours succeeded 
in talking " over " Lord Spencer. When Mr. Glad- 
stone became a Home Ruler, I was obliged conscien- 
tiously to sever my connection with the Liberal party, 
like so many other Unionists, after which I saw 
very little of Lord Spencer. The last time I met 
him was at Homburg. He was then in failing health, 
and was at Nauheim for heart treatment, whence 



SIR REDVERS BULLER 69 

lie had come to spend an afternoon at Homburg. He 
was much changed, and the once red beard had turned 
white. He recognized me first, and we were, I think, 
mutually glad to meet again, for, though our political 
views had widely diverged, we had both been through 
the bad times in Ireland. We talked about the old 
and troubled days, but carefully eschewed politics. 
Next day we met again at lunch at Frankfort; we 
were both the guests of Lady Oppenheimer. Some- 
one began talking about politics, and Lord Spencer 
made a statement which I contradicted. He did not 
easily brook contradiction, and grew rather heated. 
Next day, when I had forgotten all about the matter, 
I received a letter from him saying that " if, in the 
heat of the moment, he made any observation which 
might have seemed rude, he was very sorry." We 
met again in a day or two, and had a friendly talk, 
but politics were banned. When I was created a 
peer, one of the first letters of congratulation which 
I received was from Lord Spencer. 

In 1884 Sir Redvers Buller was appointed Under- 
Secretary for Ireland. I had met him before in the 
south, when he was sent to inquire into the condition 
of the Irish tenantry. 

I saw a great deal of Sir Redvers when he was in 
Ireland. I always liked him, and never doubted his 
courage or ability, though sometimes I questioned his 
sagacity. Under a gruff exterior he possessed the 
warmest and kindest of hearts. Everybody who had 
dealings with him in Ireland liked him immensely, 



70 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

and Lady Audrey Buller charmed us all. I remember 
on one occasion, however, feeling rather annoyed with 
Sir Redvers. We were real friends, and, as we both 
held office at the same time, frequently saw each other 
at the Castle. One day I asked him for a small 
appointment for a friend of mine, who was in every 
way qualified for the position. Buller listened to my 
recommendation in a very surly manner, barely 
answering me. I felt vexed and annoyed with him. 
A few days later I met my friend, and said: " Well, 
I spoke to Buller about you; it is the last time I will 
ever request him to do anything for me." " But, 
surely, you heard that I received the appointment the 
very day after you had spoken to him ?" said my 
friend. This was an instance of Buller 's gruff manner 
and kind heart. 



CHAPTER XII 

MR. A. J. BALFOUR — THE MITCHELSTOWN RIOTS — TRIAL OF 
MR. WILLIAM O'BRIEN — A BOGUS MESSAGE — THE PARNELL 
COMMISSION 

In 1887 I was appointed Solicitor-General for Ireland, 
the same year that Mr. Arthur Balfour became Chief 
Secretary. When one looks back at the attitude 
adopted by the National Press with regard to his 
appointment, one cannot fail to be amused at the 
ignorance displayed in its columns as to the character 
of the new Chief Secretary. It was asserted that he 
was " a lackadaisical dilettante," whose relationship 
to Lord Salisbury was mainly responsible for his having 
secured the appointment. It is now universally 
acceded that he was the most successful Chief Secre- 
tary Ireland has ever had. In him I found a fearless 
chief. In holding office under him one felt that his 
policy was consistent, and that he was willing to share 
responsibility, and to stick to his colleagues. He 
was not to be intimidated by abuse nor by the asking 
of questions in the House. Shortly after his appoint- 
ment to the Chief Secretaryship in that memorable 
debate in the House of Commons known as the 
Mitchelstown debate, he gave evidence of that firm- 

71 



72 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

ness and grit which conduced so much to his 
political success in Ireland. A public inquiry into 
the conduct of the police with regard to the riots at 
Mitchelstown was demanded. On the 9th of Sep- 
tember, 1887, an enormous Nationalist meeting was 
held at Mitchelstown, County Cork, where the trial 
of Mr. William O'Brien was to take place. The police, 
having endeavoured to force a way from the out- 
skirts of the crowd for a Government reporter, were 
assailed with stones, sticks, and any other missiles at 
hand, by an infuriated mob. The police, being in the 
minority, withdrew to their quarters (a short distance 
away), followed by the crowd, intent on attacking the 
barracks. A constable was badly hurt, but it was 
not until the barrack was attacked, and the door was 
broken, that the police fired. One man was shot, 
and two were wounded. The moment the news of 
the fray reached Dublin the conduct of the police was 
a subject of inquiry at the Castle. I was kept busy 
looking into the matter. The Chief Secretary and 
the Attorney-General were in London, and, as it was 
necessary for them to have material for the discussion 
of the question when it came before the House, I had 
the direction and advising of things in Ireland, and 
had to inquire into matters in order to ascertain 
whether the firing was justifiable or not. It was not 
random firing caused by panic, but the deliberate 
firing of men acting under orders from their officers, 
who had instructed them to fire at that portion of 



THE MITCHELSTOWN RIOTS 73 

the mob which was attacking the barracks. One 
policeman who had received severe internal injuries 
had to crawl alone to the barracks under a volley of 
stones, and was only saved from immediate death 
by the fire from the barracks. 

When the Chief Secretary was questioned in the 
House of Commons by the Radicals and Nationalists 
with regard to the riots, he gave the leading facts, 
and, while deploring the fatal issue, he completely 
exonerated the police from all blame. Mr. Bal- 
four informed the House of his determination to 
uphold law and order in Ireland, despite attacks, 
undeserved abuse, and unfair criticism. " We 
shall," he declared, " pursue to the best of our 
ability the policy founded upon justice, and which 
in the long run must end in the conciliation 
of the great community, with whom we desire 
to live in peace and amity." These few words 
outlined that policy which was so successfully 
pursued. 

On the 12th of September the inquest in connec- 
tion with the Mitchelstown riots took place, and Mr. 
William O'Brien was put on trial before a Crimes 
Court. 

Mr. Harrington cross-examined the police in a 
most outrageous manner, with a view to bullying 
them into making admissions. On the 11th of Sep- 
tember Mr. William O'Brien was arrested and con- 
veyed to Mitchelstown to be tried by resident magis- 



74 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

trates. The counsel for the Attorney-General was 
Edward Carson, while Mr. Harrington acted for 
Mr. O'Brien. After many stormy scenes and many 
fireworks on the part of Mr. Harrington, he, at the 
close of the trial, threw down his brief and left the 
court. Mr. O'Brien was sentenced to three months' 
imprisonment by Captain Eaton, R.M., and Mr. 
Stokes, R.M. Mr. O'Brien deferred his imprison- 
ment by an appeal to another Court. 

On the 2nd of October a letter from Mr. William 
O'Brien under the heading " A Revelation," appeared 
in the Freeman's Journal. In this letter Mr. O'Brien 
said that on the last day of his trial he had 
been informed that I had sent to Edward Carson 
a telegram in cipher worded thus: "O'Brien will 
beat us. Harrington will be disbarred at our next 
meeting " — that was to say, at the next meeting 
of the Benchers. Of course, I never sent or caused 
any such message to be sent. By the 5th of October 
the supposed telegram had grown in length; it now 
contained the words: " Mistake going on the first 
evidence. O'Brien will beat us. Leahy no good." 
(Leahy was a constable who gave evidence.) " Keep 
to the second case and that only. You are majdng 
a farce of the affair. Can't you keep quiet ? Send 
on your complaint against Harrington. The Benchers 
at our next meeting will do the rest." I wrote to the 
editor of the Freeman's Journal with regard to the 
bogus cipher message thus : 



A BOGUS MESSAGE 75 

" From the Solicitor -General to the Editor of the ' Free- 
man's Journal' 

" Sir, 

" I see in the Freeman's Journal of to-day a 
letter headed ' A Revelation.' 

" There is not in that revelation one word of truth. 
" I remain, Sir, 

" Your obedient servant, 

" Peter O'Brien. 

" 41, Merrion Square, 

" Monday, 3rd October, 1887." 

The following letter appeared in the Freeman of 
the same day: 

" Sir, 

" With reference to the telegram alleged in 
to-day's issue of your newspaper to have been sent 
to me by the Solicitor-General, I beg to state that I 
never received any such telegram, or any to a like 
effect. I had no communication by telegram or 
letter or otherwise, direct or indirect, from the 
Solicitor-General from the time I left Dublin to 
conduct the Mitchelstown prosecutions until my 
return. 

" The whole story is absolutely false. 

" Your obedient servant, 

" Edward Carson. 
" 80 ; Merrion Square, 

" 3rd October, 1887." 



76 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

(The Freeman on the 4th of October seems to have 
had its doubts about the matter, and called on Mr. 
O'Brien to verify his charge.) 

I was naturally desirous that Mr. William O'Brien 
should produce the alleged cipher telegram, but that, 
of course, was impossible, and one can only conclude 
that he must have been deceived by some mendacious 
information. 

It was intimated to me that if I so desired I could 
hold a brief for The Times in the inquiry into Par- 
nellism and crime. I went to London in connec- 
tion with the case, and saw Dick Webster,* 
but, not liking the lines on which the case was 
being run, I came to the conclusion that I would 
not take the brief.j Shortly afterwards, when 
in London, I was talking to a friend who was on the 
staff of The Times newspaper. 

" What about Parnellism and crime ? Have you 
a strong case ?" I asked. 

" A very strong case," my friend replied. 

" Have you evidence such as to establish the con- 
nection between Parnellism and crime ?" I further 
inquired. 

" We have important letters," he answered, and 
he told me of the letters alleged to have been written 
by Parnell. 

* Afterwards Lord Alverstone. 

f Though my father declined a brief in the Parnell Commis- 
sion, I have heard him say that the inquiry did much valuable 
work in " showing up " the manner in which agrarian crime was 
manufactured in Ireland, and also in exposing its real instigators. 
— Editor. 



THE PARNELL COMMISSION 77 

" Where were those letters procured ?" I asked. I 
was more than surprised to hear that Pigott was the 
purveyor. I warned my friend to be careful, and 
told him that it had once been suggested to me in 
some case to produce Pigott as a witness, and that I 
refused to do so, saying I would not touch that man 
with the end of a fishing-rod. 

" Ah, but our case is a very strong one," my friend 
said, so I let the matter drop. 



CHAPTER XIII 

NEWSPAPER ABUSE — THE CHANNEL CROSSING 

When I was Attorney-General and had to administer 
the Crimes and Coercion Acts, I had the distinction of 
being the most abused man of Ireland. I was de- 
nounced at political meetings, and in the daily papers 
scurrilous attacks were made upon me, as well as 
upon the Chief Secretary (Mr. Balfour), and Edward 
Carson, who devilled for me. Newspaper abuse 
never yet intimidated anyone worth his salt, and, as 
is the case with everything in Ireland, it has its comic 
side, as the following story will prove. One day, 
when I was in my room in Dublin Castle, the door 
opened, and a Clare man, a tenant of my brother's, 
thrust in his head. 

" May I speak a word with your honour ?" he 
asked. 

" To be sure, D ," I said. " Come in." 

When I had shaken hands with him, I asked him 
what he wanted, and he told me that he wished to 
enlist my support for a relation of his who was can- 
didate for some local appointment. I promised to 
do what I could, and we had a talk about Clare and 
old times. 

When I wished him good-bye he thanked me effu- 

78 



THE CHANNEL CROSSING 79 

sively, and, just before leaving trie room, turned 
round and said : 

" There's to be a great meeting at the Cross Roads 
on Sunday, and I am to take the chair. You are to 
be fiercely denounced, and I'll have to give you the 
devil of a belting;" adding with the most comical 
expression, " You'll understand." 

" Belt away, Tom," I said, as he took his departure. 

As Attorney-General for Ireland, I had frequently 
to visit the Irish office at Queen Street. This in- 
volved frequent crossings to England, which were the 
reverse of agreeable to me, for I am a most indifferent 
sailor. On one of my return journeys to Ireland I 
conversed on board the steamer with an American 
full of bounce and swagger, and obviously suffering 
from " swelled head." In the course of conversation, 
I spoke apprehensively of the misery of sea-sickness 
and the coming crossing. He looked at me with 
contempt as he said: " Wal, I guess I have been across 
the Atlantic forty times, and I don't know what sea- 
sickness is. Sea-sickness on your bit of sea ? No, 
not likely !" 

" Well, sir," I said, as I settled myself in my berth, 
" if you wish to see an object of abject misery, look 
in my direction in another half -hour !" The passage 
was, in nautical phraseology, decidedly choppy, but, 
by some miracle, I escaped the dreaded sickness, and 
happening to glance across to where my American 
friend lay, saw, to my surprise, that lie was indeed an 
object of abject misery — the victim of the most 



80 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

humiliating sufferings — a ghost, as it were, by day- 
light. Catching his eye, I was heartless enough to 
give him a truly diabolical thrust. " Sir," I said, 
" our ' bit of sea ' seems to try you more sorely than 
the Atlantic Ocean. What?" He did not reply, 
but shot me a look of hate. I doubt that he ever 
bragged of his sailorship again. Poor fellow ! All 
the starch had left him ; he was, indeed, a rag ! 



CHAPTER XIV 

MR. WILFRED BLUNT — BLUNT V. INSPECTOR BYRNE 

My first appearance in court as Attorney-General 
for Ireland was in the important action of Blunt v. 
Inspector Byrne.* This case was in connection with 
the suppression of a meeting of the National League 
at Woodford, County Galway, where evictions had 
taken place on the Clanricarde estate. The object 
of the meeting was to celebrate the anniversary of 
the Plan of Campaign, and to denounce Lord Clanri- 
carde. Woodford was the scene of numerous out- 
rages, and some time before the proposed meeting a 
process-server, who lived in the village, had been 
brutally murdered. 

In September a meeting was held at midnight at 
Woodford. It had been proclaimed by the Lord- 
Lieutenant, and at the meeting the proclamation was 
burnt by Mr. William O'Brien in the presence of 
Mr. Wilfred Scawen Blunt, an eccentric Englishman, 
who championed the Irish cause principally from 

* I have heard my father say that this was the most im- 
portant action ever tried in Ireland, the real question being 
whether the law or the Plan of Campaign was to be triumphant. 
— Editor. 

81 6 



82 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

motives of vanity and a love of notoriety. Though 
digressing, I cannot refrain from giving a short 
account of his somewhat Pickwickian travels in 
Ireland. He had been in the diplomatic service, 
but being a crank and quarrelsome, was constantly 
in conflict with the authorities. In Egypt he gave 
endless trouble, and made himself unpopular with the 
Government officials. His espousal of the Nationalist 
cause was a surprise to most people, as he had no 
connection whatsoever with Ireland, where he was 
chiefly known as a breeder of Arab horses. Having 
lived much in the East, he had adopted the Oriental 
fashion of squatting on a carpet instead of sitting on a 
chair, and was, according to himself, half a Moham- 
medan in religion, though, when in Ireland, he assi- 
duously cultivated those priests and Bishops who 
were in sympathy with the Plan of Campaign. He 
belonged to an old Catholic family, and had brains 
sufficient to render him intensely mischievous. He 
had something of Don Quixote in his character, and 
also something of Mr. Pickwick. 

Mr. Blunt was to address a Nationalist meeting at 
Woodford on Sunday, the 23rd of October. By a 
proclamation, signed by Lord Londonderry and Mr. 
Balfour, the meeting was prohibited, and all persons 
were warned to abstain from taking part in it. 

Notwithstanding the proclamation, on the after- 
noon of tin. 23rd, accompanied by Lady Anne Blunt, 
Mr. Rowland, a member for some English consti- 
tuency, and an English Protestant clergyman, Mr. 



MR. WILFRED BLUNT 83 

Blunt mounted the platform at Woodford, and opened 
the proceedings. Inspector Byrne informed him that 
the meeting was illegal, and that it was his duty to 
prevent it. Mr. Blunt replied that he intended to 
hold it, and began to speak. The police then cleared 
the platform. 

In the scrimmage Mr. Blunt fell with the police 
over the edge of the low platform. Pale, breathless, 
and doubtless, in his own opinion, very heroic, he 
rose to his feet and asked the police why they were 

such d d cowards as not to arrest him. Mr. Blunt 

and Mr. Roche, a poor-law guardian, were then 
arrested and brought before the magistrate on the 
charge of having resisted the police. Both were 
offered bail on condition that they would make no 
further attempt to hold the meeting there that 
night. They refused, and were sent to Loughrea 
prison. Next day Mr. Blunt was brought before two 
magistrates. It was proved that he had resisted the 
police, and he was sentenced to two months' im- 
prisonment subject to appeal at Quarter Sessions. 
He availed himself of the liberty to appeal, and was 
released on bail. In January he had to surrender 
himself to bail at Portumna County Court. Judge 
Henn tried the case, and condemned him to imprison- 
ment for two months. 

An action for assault was filed in Mr. Blunt's name 
against Inspector Byrne, the Divisional Magistrate 
in charge of the police at Woodford. The trial began 
in the Court of Exchequer on the 11th of February, 



84 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

before Chief Baron Palles. Atkinson* was with me 
in the case. 

Though the action was in point of form a civil one 
to recover damages for alleged assault, battery, and 
false imprisonment, it was, as a matter of fact, an 
attack upon the executive, the real question being 
the suppression of the Woodford meeting of the 23rd 
of October. Sam Walker, who stated Mr. Blunt's 
case, endeavoured to show that, though a member of 
the English Home Rule Union, Mr. Blunt had no 
connection with the National League. I cross-ex- 
amined Mr. Blunt as to his connection with the Plan 
of Campaign, and he was obliged to admit that he was 
present at the midnight meeting at which the Queen's 
Proclamation was burnt by Mr. William O'Brien. 

Mr. Blunt's memory and eyesight were on occasions 
conveniently defective. When cross-examined, he 
seemed to remember so very little of what had taken 
place that I suggested giving him a copy of the 
Freeman's Journal so that he might refresh his 
memory by reading aloud the report of his own 
speech. This, he said, was impossible, as imprison- 
ment had so impaired his sight that he could not 
read print ! 

I asked Mr. Blunt if he knew that the proclaimed 
meeting was called in order to celebrate the anniver- 
sary of the Plan of Campaign. He replied thus : " I 
heard something of it; I read about it in the news- 
papers." He also said that he had gone to see Mr. 
* Now Lord Atkinson. 



BLUNT v. BYRNE 85 

John Roche about some evictions, and that the place 
was barricaded and boiling water was thrown on the 
police, and that he knew there were other evictions 
pending in the neighbourhood.* I said that Wood- 
ford was a " black spot," whereupon Mr. Blunt 
replied that he considered it a very bright one on 
account of the patriotism of its people. 

" Burning the Queen's Proclamation made it 
bright ?" I said. " Sending the Proclamation to 
blazes, as O'Brien said he did, made it bright ?" 

I asked Mr. Blunt if Mr. O'Brien said that he was 
going to Woodford to tackle Lord Clanricarde, to 
which he replied: " I cannot recollect." " Come now, 
sir," I said ; " did he not say that he was going to 
Woodford to tackle a man of the same kidney as 
Colonel O'Callaghan ?" "I do not recollect," he 
replied. I then read from the Freeman's Journal a 
portion of Mr. Blunt's speech in which he referred to 
Colonel O'Callaghan as a " tyrant," and a " rack- 
renter," and asked Mr. Blunt was I to understand 
that his sole object in calling the Woodford meeting 
of the 23rd was to prevent crime ? To which he 
replied, " Certainly," and that he had come to Ireland 
to show his warm approval of Mr. William O'Brien's 
conduct. After this I did not deem it necessary to 
further cross-examine Mr. Blunt. Mr. John Atkin- 
son,! i n replying for the Crown, caused amusement 

* There had been evictions at Bodyke, Colonel O'Callaghan's 
property, where vitriol had been thrown on the police, 
f Now Lord Atkinson. 



86 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

in court by saying that Mr. Blunt had come to be the 
counsellor, friend, and protector of Mr. William 
O'Brien, and they might as well talk of the ass pro- 
tecting the lion. Atkinson read a little poem by 
Mr. Blunt which ran somewhat as follows: 

" No life is perfect that has not been lived : 
Youth in feeling — Manhood in the battle — 
Old age in meditation." 

There was considerable amusement when Atkin- 
son said that he greatly feared this line had been 
plagiarized from the ideas of a philosophic friend of 
his, Dalby O'Shaughnessy, who, in conversation with 
him on the subject of the " Seven Ages," had said: 
" Shakespeare's idea was all nonsense; there are only 
three ages: the first period is when you are thinking 
of all the divilment that you can do, then the period 
when you are doing it, and the third period when you 
are making your soul." 

Atkinson admitted that Mr. Blunt had put it in a 
more refined and chaste manner, but he contended 
that the idea was Dalby O'Shaughnessy 's. 

The trial lasted for over a week. The Chief Baron, 
in summing up, pronounced a severe condemnation 
of the Plan of Campaign, but the jury disagreed. 
When the trial was over I heard that Mr. Blunt said : 
" I would have had a verdict if it had not been for 
' Peter the Packer,' " which remark I regarded as a 
compliment. 



CHAPTER XV 

MR. DILLON ARRESTED — SOCIAL LIFE IN DUBLIN — FATHER 
HEALY — CRICKET — MONSIGNOR PERSICO 

In October, Mr. Dillon, who had been travelling 
throughout the country in company with Mr. Scawen 
Blunt and Mr. William O'Brien,* making inflamma- 

* Shortly after Mr. William O'Brien's imprisonment Mr. Hayes 
Fisher stayed with us. He was at that time private secretary 
to Mr. Arthur Balfour. Mr. Fisher told us that one night, after 
the inmates of the Chief Secretary's Lodge had retired to bed, 
he was awakened by a loud and insistent ringing at the hall door 
bell. Wondering what on earth could be the matter, he rose, 
and hastily slipping on a coat over his pyjamas, hurried down- 
stairs. The knocking and ringing continued, and a loud voice 
requested admittance. Mr. Fisher concluded, not unnaturally, 
that something of paramount importance had occurred which 
required the Chief Secretary's instant attention. Holding a bed- 
room candlestick in his hand, he unbarred the door, and peered 
into the darkness — a burly person stood before him, and said 
he had come on behalf of the Corporation to inquire if it were 
true that because Mr. William O'Brien had refused to wear prison 
garb, his clothes had been removed, and that he had in conse- 
quence caught a severe chill. Mr. Fisher's reply was brevity 
itself as he closed the door and returned to his room. The 
National Press next morning gave a most sensational account 
of an interview alleged to have taken place between the Chief 
Secretary himself and the Mansion House emissary. The paper 
stated that, after repeated knocking at the door of the Chief 
Secretary's Lodge, Mr. Balfour appeared wearing the coat of his 
privy council suit over his pyjamas. The article went on to 

87 



88 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

tory speeches, was arrested under the Crimes Act. 
A question had been raised as to whether Mr. John 
Dillon, who had the courage of his convictions, should 
be prosecuted for his part in promoting the Plan of 
Campaign, as it was feared that his arrest would lead 
to further agrarian outrages. The case was sub- 
mitted to me, and I gave as my opinion that it would 
be a disgrace to the administration of the law to 
prosecute the mere tools in these matters, and not to 
prosecute the father and inciter of the Plan of Cam- 
paign. 

The troublous times of 1886 to 1889 did not affect 
the social life of Dublin. Never was the Irish capital 
gayer than when Lord Londonderry was Viceroy. He 
and Lady Londonderry exercised a wide but dis- 
criminating hospitality. Lord Londonderry's love of 
sport endeared him to the Irish people. His resigna- 
tion of the viceroyalty in 1889 was universally re- 
gretted by everybody in Ireland. We were lucky in 
having as his successor Lord Zetland, another sporting 
Viceroy. Lady Zetland was kindness personified, and 
soon made a complete conquest of all Irish hearts. 
Dublin society was very pleasant in those days. 

state that the Chief Secretary had kept the Mansion House 
official waiting while he pinned on a decoration, which glistened 
on his breast ! This account provided much amusement at the 
Chief Secretary's breakfast-table, inasmuch as in the darkness, 
illuminated only by the light of Mr. Fisher's candle, the Mansion 
House official had taken a hastily donned cricket blazer, bearing 
the arms of a cricket club worked upon it, for a privy council 
coat and decoration. — Editor. 



SOCIAL LIFE IN DUBLIN 89 

There was a great deal of entertaining, and Lord and 
Lady Wolseley dispensed hospitality at the Royal 
Hospital on a large scale. The pleasures of these 
entertainments were enhanced by the presence of many 
witty guests; amongst others, Father Healy, and Dr. 
Nedley, who acted as a sort of Boswell to the witty 
Padre. 

In my household Father Healy was a persona grata, 
and we were much attached to him. He came to 
see us very often, and we noticed that, when I was 
harassed or worried he was sure to come. I regarded 
a visit from Father Healy in the light of a stimula- 
ting tonic, which had the most cheering and inspiring 
effect. As I write, I seem to see the dining-room 
door of our Dublin house open, when we were seated 
at luncheon, and Father Healy come into the room 
unannounced, his round face all smiles, and the kindly 
grey eyes twinkling. He used to fire off several bril- 
liant sallies and leave us as suddenly as he had come, 
but in the brief space of his visit our spirits would 
undergo a change. 

One day he told me, with no little pride, how he 
had floored Mr. Gladstone. Father Healy was stay- 
ing in a house where Mr. Gladstone was also a guest. 
The Grand Old Man had tried to draw Father Healy 
into a religious argument, but could not succeed. 
I do not think that at any time of his life the Padre 
desired to shine in theological controversy, neither 
did he wish for an argumentative discourse with Mr. 
Gladstone. The conversation had turned on the 



90 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

subject of dispensations. Somebody remarked that 
some foreign royalty had bought a dispensation (and 
named the sum which he had to pay), in order to 
enable him to marry within the forbidden degree of 
kindred. The bride-elect was young and beautiful, 
the bridegroom many years her senior. " Now, come ; 
what do you say to that, Father Healy ?" asked Mr. 
Gladstone. " I say that the fellow got the dispen- 
sation a great deal too cheap," said the ever-ready 
Father Healy. On another occasion Father Healy 
told me that he had met at Bray Station a young 
lady — one of the Dublin belles — in a donkey-trap. 
She was in a perfectly exhausted condition, and ex- 
plained that her donkey, on the way to the station, 
had taken fright and run away with her. " Faith, 
then, he is no ass," said Father Healy to the pretty 
girl. Many of Father Healy's stories have become 
" chestnuts," and lose much in the telling. In order 
to appreciate them fully, one should hear the de- 
licious brogue in which they were told, and see the 
humorous twinkle in the Padre's eye. As an old 
friend of Father Healy, I can say that, through all 
the long years of our friendship, I never once heard 
him utter an unkind or uncharitable word of anyone. 
During Lord Londonderry's reign we had some 
exciting cricket matches between the Bar and the 
Viceregal teams. One day, having gone to the Vice- 
regal Lodge to see His Excellency about some matter, 
I was told he was on the cricket ground. I found 
him looking on at a match that the Viceregal team 
were playing against some cricket club. " You are 



CRICKET 91 

not a cricketer, Attorney ?" His Ex. said to me. I 
said that was the case, and that we had some excellent 
cricketers among the members of the Irish Bar. 
" But they could not beat the Viceregal team," said 
His Ex. " I am not so sure about that," I replied. 
"I challenge you to a match." "Done!" said I. 
" Wigs upon the green," murmured His Ex. 

I was honorary captain of the Bar team. We had 
some excellent matches and played the Zingari, giving 
them a pretty hot time. 

While the land agitation was at its height I met, 
at the house of Sir Richard Martin,* Monsignor 
Persico, the Papal Envoy sent from the Vatican 
to inquire into the agrarian agitation in Ireland. 
Monsignor Persico was a courteous and affable 
diplomatist, who fully understood the value of 
silence. He listened with interest to what he was 
told about boycotting and the Plan of Campaign, 
and was besieged by Unionists, Nationalists, and 
ecclesiastics, all anxious to impress their views upon 
him. To all alike he presented an inscrutable, 
enigmatical countenance. It was impossible to glean 
any information as to his own views — in fact, it 
would have been easier to read the expression on 
the face of the Egyptian Sphinx than on the face 
of the Papal Envoy. When the Pope eventually 
issued the Papal Rescript condemning the Plan of 
Campaign, the secret of Papal condemnation was so 
clearly guarded that it came as a thunderbolt upon 
the priests and Nationalists of Ireland. 

* A wealthy and influential Catholic. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE GWEEDORE TRIAL 

One of the last cases in which, as Attorney-General, 
I prosecuted was the Gweedore trial in October, 1888. 
Shortly after its termination I was elevated to the 
Bench. Though the Gweedore case presented many 
difficulties, it was brought, I am happy to say, to a 
most successful issue. The Rev. James McFadden, 
one of the many prisoners, on whom all the interest 
of the case was centred, was parish priest of Gweedore, 
a wild district in Donegal. He was a firebrand, an 
advanced Nationalist, and, being a warm advocate 
of the Plan of Campaign, had been prominent in 
inciting the tenants on the Olphert Estate to resist 
eviction. 

Father McFadden may have been sincere in his 
views, but he was arrogant, and not devoid of that 
vanity which is not infrequently met with in the 
ecclesiastic. He had made numerous inflammatory 
speeches, and a warrant was issued for his arrest; 
but he evaded the police so skilfully that for some 
time they found it difficult to effect it. The inspector 
of the district was a prey to superstitious fears, and 
professed to have seen a phantom helmet, headless, 
lying at the door of the police barrack, which proved 

92 



THE GWEEDORE TRIAL 93 

to be the reflection of some dark object in the moon- 
light. Inspector Martin, who did not belong to Gwee- 
dore, was appointed to serve the warrant. 

Quite recently a friend told me that a few days 
before the arrest of Father McFadden he had met 
young Martin at a dinner-party, and that he was a 
pleasant, courageous young fellow — a gentleman by 
birth. He had contributed to the amusement of the 
evening by singing after dinner, and was the gayest 
of all present, but as my friend was leaving the dining- 
room he glanced round, and perceived that they had 
sat down thirteen to dinner — ill-omened number ! 

A cardinal blunder was made in effecting the arrest 
of Father McFadden which resulted in loss of life. 
The police, instead of waiting patiently until a favour- 
able moment presented itself, endeavoured to arrest 
the priest in the chapel yard, when he was attired 
in full canonicals and about to say Mass. 

Everybody who knows how deeply the Irish people 
love and venerate their priests will understand the 
folly of attempting to arrest one during the hours of 
service, surrounded by his flock. In Ireland from time 
immemorial the Soggarth has been the disinterested 
and, often, the sole friend of the peasant, the sharer 
of his joys and troubles, and no thinking person could 
avoid condemning the time and method of Father 
McFadden's arrest. In a moment the parishioners 
were on fire, they gathered round the priest and 
threw stones at the police. Father McFadden, fol- 
lowed by Sergeant Carey and Inspector Martin, 



94 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

stepped towards the Presbytery, which was in close 
proximity to the church, and managed to get inside 
the door, which was then slammed. There were only 
seven police sent to effect the arrest, and the hostile 
crowd set upon them. Soon Sergeant Carey was 
bleeding profusely from a blow, while Inspector 
Martin, when endeavouring to enter the Presbytery, 
was knocked down, and, when prostrate and defence- 
less on the ground, was done to death by a violent 
blow from a stone. While this ghastly scene was 
being enacted, two women were looking on from the 
Presbytery window, and, to their shame, made no 
attempt to save Inspector Martin. One was a 
servant-girl, the other a relation of Father McFadden 
— a sister, I believe. Had Father McFadden come 
forward himself and begged the crowd to disperse, 
bloodshed might undoubtedly have been avoided. 
Probably, when too late, he much regretted not having 
done so. The Gweedore murder evoked much in- 
terest. As I have already said, the case presented 
many difficulties. It was impossible to try the priest 
on a charge of murder or manslaughter. Surely he 
deserved punishment, but what was to be done ? 
On the 30th of October the court-house was densely 
crowded, the air was stuffy, and those who thronged 
the place, evidently expecting a protracted trial, were 
doomed to disappointment, for it was brought to a 
speedy and satisfactory close. With me in the case 
were Mr. Ryan, Q.C., Mr. Con Molloy, Edward Carson,* 
* Now Sir Edward Carson 



THE GWEEDORE TRIAL 95 

and Mr. John Ross.* For the defence were The 
MacDermot, Q.C., and Mr. Houston. Six prisoners 
pleaded guilty to manslaughter, nine admitted mis- 
demeanour, while Father McFadden himself pleaded 
guilty to obstructing the police. I said in opening 
the case: " I think, having regard to the statement of 
The MacDermot, it is only right on my part to say 
that an acknowledgment of guilt and submission to 
the law are matters which have always been to some 
extent considered in the punishment inflicted." 

A jury having been sworn, Judge Gibson stated 
that the prisoners had pleaded not guilty of murder, 
but guilty of manslaughter, and directed them to find 
a verdict accordingly, which they did. A prisoner 
named Coll, who was the first to strike Martin, and 
who was seen in the stone-throwing crowd, was found 
guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to ten years' 
penal servitude; while the other prisoners who were 
prominent in the attack on the police were given 
various terms of imprisonment. Judge Gibson then 
addressed Father McFadden, saying that, the Crown 
having abandoned proceedings against him, it was 
only necessary for the Judge to consider how far he 
could accede to the suggestion that Father McFadden 
should be allowed on his own plea of guilty to stand 
out on his own recognizances. He dwelt upon the 
distressing position in which Father McFadden was 
placed — a criminal at the bar — by his ill-advised eva- 
sion of arrest, and all the misery and punishment 
* Now a distinguished Judge. 



96 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

entailed upon the members of his flock by his 
resistance. 

Although Father McFadden escaped sentence, he 
received ample punishment. His parishioners re- 
sented that he, for whom crime had been com- 
mitted, should go free while others suffered. A 
feeling of hostility sprang up amongst his flock, and 
eventually he had to leave his parish.* 

* The Gweedore trial was very painful and distressing for my 
father. He had to prosecute a minister of his own religion, and 
the courageous discharge of this most painful duty brought down 
upon him the most virulent abuse from those who sought to stir 
up the evil passion of bigotry for political purposes. In December, 
1888, my father was appointed Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, 
and on the 11th of January, 1889, took his seat upon the Bench. 
Not the least pleasing feature of his appointment was the many 
kind congratulations he received — at a time when party feeling 
ran high — from those who differed from him in politics. In 1891 
he was created a Baronet, and in 1900 he was raised to the 
peerage . — Editor. 



CHAPTER XVII 

HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 

Some years after my elevation to the Bench, we moved 
to Castletown House at Celbridge, where we were 
within easy reach of Dublin, and where I could get 
some hunting. Once more I could indulge in my 
favourite pastime in a mild way, getting out some- 
times on a Saturday, when the Courts were not sitting. 
I had an excellent hunter — a nice-looking cob, which I 
afterwards sold to Sir Edward Carson as a Park hack. 
" The Cob " — the horse was never known by any 
other name — was an excellent fencer, and had the 
bravest of hearts. I remember that one day when I 
was holding quite a good position in a hunt, over a 
nice country, we suddenly came, to my dismay, to a 
huge yawner, a formidable obstacle in the shape of 
a nasty, deep ditch. We were going fairly fast at 
the time, and I did not at all like the look of the 
barrier between me and the hounds. I tried to stop 
my horse, but he meant to have the fence regardless 
of my wishes, and would not stop, so I screwed up 
my courage, gave him his head, and he negotiated 
the fence most dexterously. I turned round to look 
back at the obstacle with complacency. A priest on 
horseback was at the far side. He was standing in 

97 7 



98 EEMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

his stirrups taking stock of the fence. " Sir," he 
called out to me, " will you be very kind and ride my 
horse over this for me?" With much courtesy, I 
doffed my hat to him and said: " Reverend sir, you 
are presumably better prepared for the next world 
than I am; therefore, I must ask you to excuse me 
risking my neck a second time." Whereupon he re- 
garded me with no very pleasant countenance as I 
rode on gaily. 

Frank Goodall was huntsman in those days, and 
an excellent huntsman he was. When I first took 
up my abode at Castletown, Major Moore was Master 
of the Kildare hounds. He was succeeded by Colonel 
de Robeck — the son of that excellent and much-loved 
sportsman, Baron de Robeck, affectionately termed 
the " Old Baron," who was to be seen, almost until 
the day of his death, in the saddle in all weathers. 
From Castletown we very occasionally had a day 
with the Meath hounds. John Watson was Master 
then, and, as keen as mustard, he lived for hunt- 
ing. In his eagerness for sport, he was apt to grow 
very much excited, and, if his foxes were headed, 
his language was something at which to marvel. It 
was said that his evenings were spent in writing 
apologies to those whom he had offended during the 
day. I told him that when I was out hunting with 
the Meath hounds, he once looked in my direction, 
which so frightened me that I galloped straight back 
to Castletown, where I did not feel out of reach of 
his tongue until I had ensconced myself upon the 



HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 99 

roof ! This fiction delighted him. Nobody has ever 
cherished resentment against him for long. During 
the chase he was a privileged person, inasmuch as he 
was such a gallant sportsman, and so desirous that 
those out with his hounds should enjoy good sport. 
One day when the Meath hounds were hunting not 
far from Castletown, the fox crossed the road and was 
lost, greatly to the annoyance of the Master, who 
thought he was likely to have a good run. His anger 
was terrible to witness. Longing to give vent to his 
disappointment, he espied a trap upon the road, 
wherein was seated a lady gaily and fashionably 
attired in bright scarlet. John Watson held her 
responsible for heading the fox. Turning towards 
the field, he said in stentorian tones: "Ladies and 
gentlemen, you have to thank the Scarlet Woman for 
spoiling your day's sport !" Everybody felt amused 
at this outburst, but nobody dared to laugh. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

A JUDGE'S DUTIES — A NARROW ESCAPE — SOME 

WITNESSES 

I have always thought that a Judge is deserving of 
much sympathy when it falls to his lot to discharge 
that most painful of all tasks — namely, sentencing a 
fellow-being to death. Happily, during my twenty- 
five years on the Bench I have had to pronounce but 
few death sentences, and all of them were in cases in 
which the crime was of a terrible and deliberate nature 
— a fact which, to a slight extent, tends to deaden 
feelings of pity for the criminal. 

Once I had to sentence a man to death for the 
brutal murder of his wife. He was living with 
another woman, and, in order to marry her, wished 
to get rid of his wife and mother-in-law. He killed 
them with the blow of a spade while they slept, and, 
locking the door of the room in which his two small 
children also slept, tried to make his escape. The 
terrified children were for over twenty-four hours 
locked in with the dead bodies. Their father intended 
to leave Ireland, but was arrested before he could get 
aboard a vessel. Had he not taken some of his pos- 
sessions with him in a tin box he might have escaped. 

100 



A NAKROW ESCAPE 101 

At the trial witnesses swore that they had seen a 
man walking at a great speed along the roads on the 
day of the murder. Some of them could not recall 
the prisoner's features, but all were unanimous in 
swearing that the man carried a tin box. When I 
assumed the black cap to pronounce sentence of 
death, the prisoner cursed me in the most dramatic 
manner, but the day before the execution I received 
a letter from him in which he begged me to forgive 
him for the language he had used towards me, and, 
with many expressions of contrition for his crime, 
admitted the justice of his sentence. 

I remember trying a " horse case " in which 
evidence was given as to a jockey having pulled 
a race-horse so as to prevent him passing the 
winning-post. His guilt was established beyond 
a doubt, and I was amused to hear that his sole 
comment on the case was, " Who got at the 
Judge ? How was he got at, and how much did 
he receive V 

I once had a narrow escape from death while in 
the discharge of my duties as Judge. A missile in 
the shape of a stone about the size of a hen's egg 
was flung at me from the dock by a prisoner, and 
was within an ace of hitting me. The occurrence 
took place at Belfast, where a man who had been 
a soldier was charged with burglary and found 
guilty. While I was sentencing him to two months' 
imprisonment he bent down, and, taking a stone which 
he had concealed in his clothes, flung it at me. It 



102 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

fell somewhere at the back of the bench. How the 
prisoner came to be so armed puzzled us all. On 
inquiry, it was discovered that on his way from the 
cells he had to go through a long subterranean passage 
paved with cobble-stones, one of which he had 
managed to pick up, evidently with the intention of 
flinging it at the Judge should a verdict of guilty 
be brought against him. Ever since this ugly incident 
prisoners are always carefully searched before being 
placed in the dock. 

I recollect two rather amusing instances of the 
readiness of witnesses to reply to questions the 
import of which they wholly misunderstand. 

In a Probate case before me the question arose as 
to whether a testator who made a will twenty-four 
hours before his death was, at the time of his so doing, 
mentally capable. The evidence showed that the 
deceased was visited on the day preceding his death 
by several of his neighbours, who described him as 
being more or less in a state of stupor and collapse. 
I put the question to one rather voluble witness at 
the end of his evidence: " I gather, then, that the 
deceased gentleman, when you saw him, was lying 
in a coma f" " Oh no, my lord," he replied without 
hesitation; " it was just an ordinary bed he was 
lying in." 

The other story is of the same nature: 

A Dublin dock-labourer alleged that he had been 
attacked by a lascar who had come from his native 
India as stoker on board a steamer berthed for the 



SOME WITNESSES 103 

moment in the port of Dublin. The plaintiff swore 
that this lascar had assaulted him, abused him, and 
called him a blackguard. " In the vernacular, I 
presume V I said. " No, my lord," replied the 
witness readily; " it was on the quay." 



CHAPTER XIX 

LORD JUSTICE FITZGIBBON 

No wonder the Irish Bar is proud of its past glories, 
when it can boast of having had among its members 
such men as Curran, Whiteside, Bushe and Butt; in 
more recent years surely its glorious traditions have 
in no wise been unworthily sustained. As I write, 
the names Naish, Fitzgibbon, Palles, come to my 
mind all unbidden. 

Lord Justice Fitzgibbon was one of our most elo- 
quent and erudite judges. His career, when at 
Trinity College, was most distinguished. His mind 
was extremely subtle, and he generally formed his 
judgments through a strange process of reasoning. 
It was impossible to predict what view of a case he 
would take, and the ordinary judicial mind often 
found a difficulty in following his mental windings 
and twistings.* He possessed a wonderful knack, 

* It must not be thought for one moment that Lord Justice 
Fitzgibbon was a trimmer. He was ever good-humoured and 
willing to temporise for peace' sake. 

A friend of ours wanted to see him on important business, and 
called at his house in the morning, when he knew he was most 
likely to find the Lord Justice at home. The Lord Justice him- 
self met him in the hall, and said: " I am sorry, but I absolutely 
cannot speak with you now. It is nearly eleven o'clock, and I 
must be in court by eleven o'clock." 

104 



LORD JUSTICE FITZGIBBON 105 

which amounted to a gift, of presenting his own view 
in the most convincing manner. 

He had, if I may use the term, an acrobatic mind. 
He was the most delightful of hosts, and every 
Christmas gave parties at his charming residence, 
which overlooked the sea at Howth. Many distin- 
guished people enjoyed his hospitality, and one reason 
which made these gatherings so pleasant was that he 
himself thoroughly enjoyed having his friends around 
him. H vas like a schoolboy during the Christmas 
vacatio? \en these famous gatherings took place, 
of whi oysters, wine, good conversation, good 
company, and long rambles round the beautiful coast, 
were the distinguishing features. The last time I 
enjoyed Fitzgibbon's hospitality, I had to leave by 
an early train in the morning. It was a foggy, pitch- 
dark morning, and I had to grope about the passage 
in search of my boots, as I did not want to disturb 
the other guests at such a cruelly early hour. I had 
not been home very long when a mock warrant for 
my arrest arrived. It was sent by Fitzgibbon, and 
was worded in legal phraseology to the effect that I 

" Oh, I shan't keep you long. Do give me a few minutes," 
urged my friend. 

" Impossible. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin is 
in my study at this moment. I must see him on some educa- 
tional matter before going to court." 

" Well, I'll slip up to the drawing-room and wait for you there." 

A strange look stole over the Lord Justice's face, as he answered : 
"You mustn't go into the drawing-room: the Protestant Arch- 
bishop is there, and neither knows the other is here." — Editor. 



106 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

had stolen a boot, the property of the Right Hon. 
George Wyndham, Chief Secretary of Ireland, and 
that I had been seen limping at Kingsbridge Ter- 
minus with the aforesaid boot upon my foot. In the 
dark I had by mistake taken from the landing one of 
Mr. George Wyndham' s boots, whose room was next 
to mine. I had noticed at the station that my foot 
felt very hot and uncomfortable, but this I attributed 
to gout, the result, as I thought, of Fitzgibbon's 
lavish hospitality. 



CHAPTER XX 

SUCCESS AS A MATCHMAKER 

Once, and once only, my advice was instrumental in 
bringing about a marriage, though, to my regret, I 
never met the lady concerned. I was in Wales for 
a short holiday, and one day was going by train to 
Llanberis with the view of ascending Snowdon. A 
young man — a barrister as I thought — was travelling 
in my compartment. After a time we began to con- 
verse, and I found that my surmise was correct, as he 
told me he had left Oxford, and had been called to 
the Bar. He was an intelligent fellow, and most 
eager to succeed in his profession. We discussed 
legal topics, and I gave him some advice which I 
deemed might be beneficial to a young barrister. As 
we found each other's society congenial, we arranged 
to ascend Snowdon together, and when we reached 
the summit, my young friend grew pensive and heaved 
a sigh, whereupon I chaffed him on the possession of 
a romantic temperament. The beauty of the scene 
may have moved him to give me his confidence, for 
before many minutes had elapsed he was asking my 
advice concerning his love affairs, which were causing 
him great perplexity. It was a case of " How happy 

107 



108 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

could I be with either, were t'other dear charmer 
away !" for there were two ladies, and he could not 
make up his mind to which to propose. One was 
extremely pretty and well endowed ; the other dower- 
less, and, to quote my young friend, " an angel," 
having nursed an invalid and querulous father through 
a long illness, denying herself all amusement to take 
her place by his pillow. I advised him to marry the 
dowerless young lady, saying that, inasmuch as she 
had proved such an excellent daughter, she would be 
likely to prove an equally excellent wife, and stand by 
her husband as she had done by her parents. I told 
him that under such circumstances, even without 
money, he would probably succeed at the Bar, as 
most men who had risen to fame had had to work 
hard in the beginning. My young friend seemed im- 
pressed by my advice, and when I had finished speak- 
ing, suddenly exclaimed, as he pointed to a lady who 
appeared on the scene: " Why, there's the pretty 
girl I was telling you of." Very pretty she certainly 
was. She had ascended Snowdon with some friend, 
and was delighted to meet the young barrister. She 
was very gracious and charming to me, and I felt 
rather a traitor in her presence, owing to the advice 
I had just given. The episode was soon almost 
forgotten by me, and my thoughts might never have 
reverted to it, had I not many years after received 
a letter from the barrister, in which he recalled him- 
self to my memory and thanked me for my advice, 
which he had followed, with the result that he was 



SUCCESS AS A MATCHMAKER 109 

" happy in his marriage beyond his expectation," 
and was making a large income at the Bar. My 
success as a matchmaker much gratified my vanity, 
but I was content to retire on my laurels, knowing 
that I could never again hope for a like success, inas- 
much as " angels " are rarely to be met with. 



CHAPTER XXI 

ON LITERATURE 

On the 18th of May, 1911, I was present at a dinner 
in aid of the Royal Literary Fund, which was held 
at the Whitehall Rooms, Hotel Metropole. That 
distinguished man of letters, Mr. Birrell, presided — 
and in a weak moment I was persuaded to pro- 
pose the toast of Literature. Had I not had the 
audacity to do this I should have foregone a very 
pleasant evening, during which some excellent and 
amusing speeches were made. When dinner was 
over, and feeling exceedingly conscious of my own 
shortcomings, I made the following brief speech, in 
the beginning of which I tried to illustrate my utter 
destitution from a literary point of view by relating 
this little story: 

" At an early table d'hote at one of the hotels in 
Lucerne, I think it was the Schweitzerhof, I found 
myself sitting next to a very charming Russian lady. 
Her children were seated near her, and were con- 
versing in all manner of languages. I remarked to 
the mother, ' What a number of languages these 
charming children speak !' The gratified mother 
turned to me, and looking at me — not wholly without 
interest, as I thought — asked me whether I was not 

110 



ON LITERATURE 111 

a good linguist. ' Alas, madam !' I replied, with 
tears in my voice, ' I do not speak even the language 
of my own country.' You can well imagine, my 
lords, ladies, and gentlemen, the mental prostration 
with which I made this humiliating avowal !" 

I then went on to say that, notwithstanding my 
entire ineptitude, literature had afforded me so many 
delightful moments that a spirit of gratitude sug- 
gested that I should endeavour at least to lay a very 
humble tribute at its shrine. " What has literature 
done for us ? Or, rather, what has it not done for 
us V 9 I asked. " For my own part, but for literature 
I should still be careering about my native wilds, 
a semi-civilized backwoodsman. What Englishman 
is not proud of the literature of his country ? What 
Englishman does not feel a glow of pride when he 
remembers that it was England that gave to literature 
Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer, Spenser, and a thousand 
other imperishable names of both men and women?" 

" My lords, ladies, and gentlemen," I continued, 
" I have but one complaint to make against litera- 
ture. The occasion which gave rise to this complaint 
was certainly a very trying one. I remember at one 
time I was on circuit in the West of Ireland, and, 
with my colleagues, was asked to attend a public 
dinner. ' Literature ' was on the toast list, and a 
local orator — a Connaught gentleman, I believe — 
was called upon to propose it. This gentleman 
apparently prided himself on his knowledge of 
literature, and certainly loved the sound of his own 



112 KEMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

voice. He spoke with an unrelenting fluency for 
three hours and thirty-three minutes by the clock. 
It was marvellous, if not magnificent. There is a 
saying in the West of Ireland with which Mr. 
Birrell is, no doubt, familiar; it is heard in times 
of civil commotion: ' The West's awake '; but I assure 
you, my lords, ladies, and gentlemen, that on this 
occasion the West was fast asleep !" 

I then ceased my bizarre and uncouth references 
to literature, and presented a delightful contrast by 
associating with the toast of " Literature " the name 
and fame of Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, whose health 
I proposed. 



CHAPTER XXII 

USSHER V. USSHER 

Perhaps the most interesting case in which I had to 
deliver judgment in recent years was that of Ussher v. 
Ussher.* The facts are briefly as follows: It was 
argued that a marriage ceremony celebrated between 
two professing Roman Catholics was null and void 
on account of the omission of a certain formality, 
not considered essential by the established Church- 
that is to say, by the law of the land. It was of 
paramount importance that the law of the land 
should be upheld, and, as naturally the case was 
followed with considerable interest, I do not hesitate 
to give it in full. 

The question to be determined in this case is 
whether the Petitioner William Arland Ussher and 
the Respondent Mary Ussher, otherwise Caulfield, 
were lawfully married. The material facts are as 
follows : 

At about ten o'clock at night on the 24th of April, 

* This judgment seems to have given universal satisfaction, 
inasmuch as my father was the recipient of numerous con- 
gratulatory letters from prominent Catholic and Protestant 
ecclesiastics. — Editor. 

113 8 



114 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

1910, the Petitioner went through what purported to 
be a ceremony of marriage with the Respondent. 
Both the Petitioner and the Respondent were Roman 
Catholics at the time of the alleged marriage; upon 
this hypothesis the Petition was presented. The 
ceremony which is impugned as invalid was performed 
by the Rev. Joseph Fahy, parish priest of the parish 
where they resided. The Petitioner lived at a place 
called Eastwell in the county of Galway, and the 
Respondent was a housemaid in his establishment. 
The Petitioner was about thirty years of age and 
the Respondent about twenty. The Petitioner had 
been born a Protestant; and had, up to the date of 
the ceremony, professed the Protestant religion; but 
immediately before the alleged marriage took place 
he had been received into the Roman Catholic Church. 

The marriage ceremony was performed in accord- 
ance with the ritual, so far as it is expressed in words, 
of the Roman Catholic Church, but in the presence 
of one witness only — a woman of the name of Agnes 
Kavanagh, who was a cook in the Petitioner's house. 
It appears that both the reception into the Roman 
Catholic Church and the ceremony of marriage took 
place in an unused bedroom at Eastwell, into which 
the Rev. Joseph Fahy was secretly introduced at 
night by the Petitioner. 

It was argued before us that this marriage was 
invalid by reason of the fact that only one witness 
thereto was present, and that it was invalid ecclesi- 
astically and legally, both in the eye of the Roman 



USSHER v. USSHER 115 

Catholic Church and in the eye of the law of the 
realm, the common law. The prohibitive and penal 
statute, the 19th Geo. II., cap. 13, was referred to 
as invalidating the marriage. 

There was an added, I might say a special ground 
of impeachment of the marriage: it was alleged to 
be subject to the condition that, if the ceremony 
which was gone through was not effective as a valid 
marriage in the eye of the Roman Catholic Church, 
it was to be regarded as altogether invalid. The 
Rev. Joseph Fahy, who was examined at the trial, 
stated that he told the Petitioner (who was not 
produced to give evidence) that two witnesses to the 
marriage were necessary; but afterwards alleged that 
he thought that a faculty which he got from his 
Bishop, the Most Rev. Dr. Gilmartin, dispensed with 
the necessity of two witnesses, and rendered the 
presence of one witness sufficient. As to this, the 
Rev. Joseph Fahy lapsed into very great confusion. 
It is not now denied that the faculty from the Bishop 
was confined merely to the authorization of the 
celebration of the marriage in a private house. The 
marriage certainly took place before but one witness, 
Agnes Kavanagh the cook. The persons present 
were only four in number — viz., the Petitioner, the 
Respondent, the cook Agnes Kavanagh, and the Rev. 
Joseph Fahy. The ceremony of marriage was, as I 
have stated, gone through in the words (all the words 
having been used) of the Roman Catholic ritual. 
Did the fact that there was but one witness present 



116 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

invalidate the marriage from the standpoint of the 
Roman Catholic Church ? In my opinion it did. 
The Decree of the Council of Trent has been pro- 
mulgated in Ireland; it is applicable to and controls 
Roman Catholic marriages, and makes the presence 
of two witnesses necessary. A ceremony not in 
accordance with its requirements as to the presence 
of a priest and of two witnesses is null and void. Not 
only is the marriage declared null and void by the 
Council of Trent, but the parties purporting to con- 
tract are declared incompetent to do so, " omnino 
inhabiles ad contrahendum." That is to say, the 
marriage is rendered invalid not by reason of any 
incompetency of a personal character attaching to, 
inherent in, the persons purporting to contract, but 
by reason of the non-compliance with an external 
requirement; that is to say, the presence of the two 
witnesses rendered necessary by that Decree. It 
must be borne in mind that the Decree of the Council 
of Trent, though coercive and conclusive from the 
standpoint of the Roman Catholic Church, is not 
recognized by the law of the land, the common law. 
We must bear this distinction in mind when dealing 
with the question whether the marriage with which 
we are here concerned was good at common law. It 
is unnecessary to consider how, from the point of view 
of the Roman Catholic Church, a subsequent valida- 
tion of the marriage would operate ; for no such thing 
has taken place in this case, nor has any such thing 
been attempted; in fact, the Petitioner refused to 



USSHEE v. USSHEB 117 

give the consent said to be necessary for such 
validation. 

But, as was asked with much emphasis by Counsel 
during the argument, how could the marriage be 
validated if it was altogether void 1 Such a pro- 
position, it was contended, finds no support from 
" reason." I am afraid there are many things lying 
at the root, at the foundation of the Christian religion, 
mysteries of faith, for an elucidation of which we 
should appeal to " reason " in vain. The incredulity 
of scepticism is caused by making " reason " the sole 
and exclusive touchstone of faith. One thing, how- 
ever, "reason" imperatively impresses: that, such 
are the difficulties which beset every form of the 
Christian religion, we should, no matter how great 
our devotion to the faith of our fathers, practise 
forbearance and toleration towards all men within 
the Christian fold, whatever their distinctive tenets 
may be. I should not have made these observations 
but for the argument so vigorously addressed to us 
from the Bar; it is sufficient for me to say that the 
Decree of the Council of Trent, which has been pro- 
mulgated in Ireland and forms part of the Roman 
Catholic Faith, declares a marriage with but one 
witness to be null and void. 

I now turn from the law of the Roman Catholic 
Church to the law of the realm, the common law. 
What, then, is a common law marriage ? Marriages 
that were made without formalities, but by the mere 
consent of the parties, were at one time regarded by 



118 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

many as common law marriages. In order to have 
made such marriages effective there should have been 
a present intention to make the contract, and it 
should have been expressed accordingly; in other 
words, " per verba de prsesenti." This was accepted 
by many as the true view of the essential conditions 
of marriage at common law before the well-known 
case of Regina v. Millis; it rested on the maxim 
" Consensus facit matrimonium." Then came the 
case I have mentioned, that of Regina v. Millis, which 
exhausted legal erudition on the subject, but in 
which the noble and learned Lords who heard it 
were equally divided in opinion as to whether the 
presence of a clergyman in Holy Orders was essential 
to the validity of a common law marriage. Next 
we have the equally well-known case of Beamish v. 
Beamish, in which the House of Lords showed that, 
by virtue of the rule " Semper prsesumitur pro 
negante," the decision in Regina v. Millis made the 
presence of a clergyman in Holy Orders necessary to 
the validity of a common law marriage. See Lord 
Campbell's judgment, pages 336, 339 (9th H.L.). 
He dealt with the matter at some length, and con- 
cluded his observations as to this head of his argu- 
ment by saying: 

" It is my duty to say that your Lordships are 
bound by this decision (i.e., the decision in Regina v. 
Millis) as much as if it had been pronounced nemine 
dissentiente " (p. 338). Later on he says that it was 
" settled by that case that, to constitute a valid 



USSHER v. USSHER 119 

marriage by the common law of England, there must 
be present a clergyman in Orders conferred by a 
Bishop." Lord Chelmsford is also reported to have 
said in the same case: "The Queen v. Millis must 
be taken to have settled that at common law marriage 
was invalid unless contracted in the presence of a 
priest in Holy Orders"; and, to refer to the ante- 
cedent judgment of Lord Cranworth, it will be seen 
that he laid down that " according to the common 
law of England and Ireland a marriage celebrated 
without the presence of a clergyman in Holy Orders 
was not merely irregular, censurable and punishable, 
but was absolutely void." 

Now, why do I refer to these passages from the 
judgments of these noble and learned Lords ? For 
this reason: that they deal with the law of the land, 
the common law; and because the Rev. Joseph 
Fahy, as has not been denied, fulfils the necessary 
conditions as to being a priest in Holy Orders. The 
substance, the essential condition, of a valid marriage 
at common law is what we have here. The con- 
tracting parties intending then and there to get 
married interchanged their mutual consent — the one 
to be husband, the other to be wife — in the presence 
of a priest in Holy Orders. By the word " priest " 
I mean not a mere physical sacerdotal entity, but 
a clergyman present to elicit and receive the consent 
of the contracting parties; to see that they intended 
to get married and mutually understood each other, 
and who might act as a witness of the marriage, if 



120 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

necessary. Here not only were " verba de prsesenti " 
used, but, as I have already stated, the whole of the 
Catholic Ritual, so far as it is expressed in words, 
was gone through. There was here the essence, the 
substance of a common law marriage, clothed, as it 
were, in ecclesiastical garments. I find that in 
treatises on marriage law the priest is styled " the 
official witness," the " testis qualificatus." At com- 
mon law the presence of any other witness was un- 
necessary to constitute a valid marriage. Other 
witnesses who might have been present, but whose 
presence, though essential under the express pro- 
visions of the Council of Trent, was not essential at 
common law, were styled the formal witnesses. I 
am therefore of opinion that there was a good and 
valid marriage according to the law of the realm, 
the common law, between the Petitioner and the 
Respondent. It is not necessary to refer to those 
exceptional circumstances, such as the celebration of 
a marriage at sea, or a case in which it is impossible 
to secure the presence of a priest, mentioned by Lord 
Cranworth in Beamish v. Beamish at page 348, and 
by Lord Wensleydale at page 352, of their respective 
judgments, and in the Decree " Ne temere," which 
dispense with the necessity for the presence of a 
priest; such circumstances do not exist in the present 
case. Before I leave this part of the case, I desire 
to refer to the Report made on the Marriage Law of 
the United Kingdom dated 1868; perhaps the most 
authoritative Report (whether in regard to the 



USSHER v. USSHER 121 

position and qualifications of the signatories to it or 
of the witnesses examined before them) that was ever 
presented to either House of Parliament. Amongst 
the signatories were five Lord Chancellors, four 
English and one Irish ; and among the witnesses were 
several Roman Catholic Bishops, both English and 
Irish. The division under the head of " Roman 
Catholic Marriages " consists of six short clauses, 
so succinct that their very succinctness causes me 
some compunctious visitings lest my observations 
be too great a trespass on the public time. All these 
clauses are relevant, but I will refer only to Clauses 1 
and 6, which are as follows: 

" Clause 1. Until the year 1863 marriages between 
two Roman Catholics (being the great majority of 
the whole number of marriages annually solemnized 
in Ireland) were left to the operation of the common 
law, without any statutory enactment; and, so far 
as relates to the legal constitution of marriage between 
such parties, this is still the case; the provisions of 
the Act passed in that year being directory, with a 
view to the registration only of such marriages." 

Clause 6, after referring to the Council of Trent, 
the publication of banns, and dispensation with them 
by episcopal licence, continues as follows: 

" Of these matters, however (being requisites of 
marriage by the internal economy only of the Roman 
Catholic Church), the law of the land takes no cog- 
nizance; and a marriage contracted in the presence of 
any Roman Catholic priest in Ireland between two 



122 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

Roman Catholics, although contrary to the law and 
discipline of their own Church, would be legally valid." 

My brother Kenny most appropriately referred to 
these among other clauses of the Report; but there 
is one other antecedent clause, at page 3 of the 
Report, to the concluding lines of which, as I think 
them apposite, and entirely right, I shall refer. They 
are as follows: 

" In both countries (England and Ireland) pro- 
vision is made for a general registry of marriages with 
a view to their greater publicity and more authentic 
proof; but the validity or proof of marriage is not 
made dependent upon such registration or upon any 
other particular kind of evidence." 

Now I come to what I called the added, the special, 
objection, which was so strenuously pressed at the 
Bar. Herein lay indeed the stress of the contention 
between the parties. It was said that the ceremony 
proceeded on the basis that the consent of the Peti- 
tioner was given upon the condition that if the 
alleged marriage was not a good marriage according 
to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, the 
ceremony gone through should be regarded as in no 
way binding, and that the Petitioner should not be 
regarded otherwise than as an unmarried man; that 
the ceremony he went through should be good and 
binding as a valid marriage in the eye of the Roman 
Catholic Church or be no marriage at all. That, as 
it were, he should be bound only by the tie he pur- 
ported to put on; that, in fact, if not bound by that 



USSHER v. USSHER 123 

tie, it would be competent for him to fling the Respon- 
dent aside as a degraded castaway, the mere refuse 
of his sated passion, and the unhappy mother of 
a bastard child. This gives us pause indeed. 

But it is said that hard cases make bad law; and 
we must accordingly be careful that any moral 
reprobation this contention may provoke does not 
blind us to the facts or to the law. 

Was there then, in point of fact, any such condition 
as was argued to exist ? Was there, to use the 
language of the fourth paragraph of the Petition, any 
such express condition ? I am of opinion that there 
was not. There was in my opinion no such stipula- 
tion either express or implied. I think the substance, 
the essence of the marriage was constituted by the 
affirmative answers given to the questions of the 
priest: by the mutual consent elicited by these 
questions. I think the Latin word " vis " is equiva- 
lent to "Do you consent ?" and the word " volo " 
to the words " I do "; and that all the rest of the 
formula.is merely declaratory, confirmatory, symbolical, 
and ceremonial. If this be so, as I think it is, there 
was an absolute unconditional contract of marriage; 
and this view is, I think, borne out by the " Roman 
Ritual," which consists merely of the affirmative 
answers given to the priest. The questions and 
answers are in language identical with the language, 
the questions and answers put in this case. But 
assuming this view, though supported by the opinion 
of many eminent Canonists, not to be the true view; 



124 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

and assuming that the substance, the essence of the 
marriage is to be found later on in the formula used, 
I think the words, " verba de praesenti," words used 
in the present tense according to the directions given 
in the Prayer-Book, " I take thee to my wedded 
wife," etc., and " I take thee to my wedded hus- 
band," etc., used respectively by the contracting 
parties, would be a sufficient expression of their mutual 
consent to constitute a marriage. This seems to 
have been the opinion of that most distinguished 
Judge, Sir James Willes. See his great judgment in 
Beamish v. Beamish, upon which the language of 
eulogy was exhausted. 

But whatever opinion may prevail (and I most 
studiously, most emphatically disclaim even the 
semblance of dogmatism) as to where the essential 
words lay in the formula before us, I think there 
was cumulative evidence of mutual consent regarding 
the formula as a whole. This is, I think, sufficient 
for the purpose of my judgment; but I think it may 
with some plausibility be argued, as indeed it was, 
that what follows the mutual acceptance in the latter 
part of the formula — the mutual " taking," so to 
speak — was not essential to the constitution of 
matrimony, but represented merely the duties and 
functions attaching to Christian marriage; and that 
the troth-plighting had reference merely to the dis- 
charge of these duties and functions. The expression 
" Ego conjungo vos in matrimonium " was not, in 
my opinion, essential. It was used merely to give 



USSHER v. USSHER 125 

a religious character to the ceremony; to indicate 
that the official witness, the witness who attended on 
the part of the Church, saw nothing wrong in the 
ceremony; and the crossing of the right hands, and 
the blessing, and the giving of the marriage-gifts 
were merely symbolical. The true view, presented 
by the actual position as it existed at the time of 
the ceremony, as I ventured to point out during the 
progress of the argument, was that the Petitioner 
not only consented to be married to the Respondent, 
but was most eager and desirous to be married to 
her; to have the marriage then and there secretly 
celebrated by the Rev. Joseph Fahy. He was, as 
I have said, equally urgent to get married and to 
have the marriage kept secret. The Rev. Joseph 
Fahy may perhaps in his hurry and confusion have 
confounded the official witness, the priest, with the 
formal witness ; that is to say, he may have regarded 
himself as one witness, and Agnes Kavanagh the 
cook as another; but most certainly the clandestine 
method of the celebration of the marriage was much 
to be regretted. 

I think I may here appropriately quote a passage 
from the judgment of Lord Chelmsford in the case 
of Beamish v. Beamish as to the effect of a clandestine 
marriage. He says at page 357 of the report: 

" But where such a contract ' per verba de prse- 
senti ' was declared in the presence of a person in 
Holy Orders present for the purpose of receiving 
such declaration, there was a complete and valid 



126 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

marriage, although, in consequence of not taking 
place ' in facie ecclesiae ' it was considered as clan- 
destine and subjected the parties to the censure of 
the Church. These marriages, however, were re- 
garded by the ecclesiastical Courts as complete and 
lawful marriages, and so they were by the Courts of 
common law, and as drawing after them all the legal 
rights and consequences incident to marriage; nor 
were the parties ever compelled to repeat the cere- 
mony in the face of the Church; all which is clearly 
explained by Lord Lyndhurst in Regina v. Millis." 
This is the language of Lord Chelmsford. 

But to return to the allegation that the marriage 
was conditional. There certainly was nothing con- 
ditional in the questions of the priest, nor in the 
answers of the Petitioner. The answer that the 
Petitioner would marry according to the rite of the 
Church meant simply that he was willing that the 
Roman Catholic ceremonial should be adopted; it 
did not in any way qualify his intention to get 
married; it simply meant that he was willing that 
the Roman Catholic ceremonial of marriage should 
be employed; a ceremonial of marriage which was, 
in my opinion, in no way of a conditional character. 

The words " If Holy Church will it permit " were 
at most no more than this, that the marriage should 
be regarded as binding and valid if nothing was 
discovered to exist affecting the personal relations 
of the contracting parties (such as consanguinity or 
affinity) to justify their separation in the eye of the 



USSHER v. USSHER 127 

Church, and require dissolution of the marriage bond. 
For my own part, I think that these words had no 
reference to what I have described as an external 
witness, the necessity for whose presence was created 
by the ordinance of the Council of Trent. Indeed, 
these words are found in rituals which were in use 
long before the ordinance of the Council of Trent was 
promulgated or even existed. 

I think, too, that it may be very plausibly argued 
that these words, which occur after the statement 
of the obligations and duties of marriage — at the end 
of the habendum, so to speak — are but a vague 
expression of deference to the Church, similar to the 
analogous expressions " Please God," " If it please 
God," " With the blessing of God," " God willing." 
Indeed, in our own courts we constantly hear the 
phrase " If your Lordship pleases "; and in the House 
of Commons members not infrequently make use of 
the formula " With the permission of the House." 
These phrases are accepted as mere expressions of 
courtesy, and are in no way restrictive of exhaustive 
argument or elaborate discussion. The mere occa- 
sional use of these words (for they are found only in 
some of the rituals) tends to bear out the view that 
they are, as I have said, a mere vague expression of 
deference to the Church. They are altogether 
omitted in some of the rituals. For example, they 
are not found in the " Roman Ritual," nor in the 
ritual which is in use in America; and in the old 
Sarum Ritual other words are employed. Nor are 



128 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

the words found in the York Missal; while in the 
Hereford Manual and Missal the words are " as Holy 
Church has so ordained." Such words do not, in 
my opinion, make the marriage conditional; they do 
not qualify the absolute character and effect of the 
mutual consent already given in the presence of the 
priest. The interchange of consent and the inter- 
vention of the priest created in a legal point of view 
the contract; and from an ecclesiastical point of view 
conferred the sacrament of marriage. The consent 
should be freely and deliberately given without error, 
fear, or force, duress or fraud, by persons competent 
to contract; and should be expressed in words or by 
some visible sign. All these conditions were fulfilled 
in the present case. 

Though a priest be present, it is, in the language 
of a distinguished Canonist (Devine on " The Law 
of Christian Marriage," page 57), " the well-settled 
doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church that the 
contracting parties are themselves the ministers of 
the sacrament, and not the officiating priest, who 
only confirms and blesses the marriage, and can only 
be called the minister of its solemnity." This ratifi- 
cation and blessing was, I think, intended to be 
expressed by the phrase " Ego conjungo vos in 
matrimonium." The priest, notwithstanding the 
form, the literal import of the words, does not unite 
in matrimony; the marriage union is not created by 
him ; he merely expresses approval on the part of the 
Church of what has already taken place. -This 



USSHER v. USSHER 129 

expression " Ego conjungo vos in matrimonium " 
relates to and is conversant with the ceremonial, 
with what is non-essential, with what is merely 
ceremonial and symbolical, and not with the essence 
and substance of matrimony; the marriage has already 
taken place by the interchange of mutual consent, 
" per verba de prsesenti," in the presence, and with 
the intervention, of the priest. And the fact that 
the marriage union has been already effected should 
be borne in mind when construing the words " if 
Holy Church will it permit." These words occur 
after an absolute marriage has taken place, and, in 
my opinion, do not qualify it. 

With reference to the presence of a priest, Lord 
Wensleydale in his judgment of Beamish v. Beamish 
(page 350) says: 

" The elaborate opinion of the consulted Judges 
which has been delivered to us by Mr. Justice Willes 
gives very ample and satisfactory reasons why the 
presence of a third person, a clergyman, should be 
required. They suggest that there must be three 
reasons for requiring his presence : First, that it may 
be that he is to be a representative of the Church, for 
the purpose of giving a religious character to the 
ceremony, and invoking from the Almighty a blessing 
on the union, for that is the only sense in which a 
blessing can be given by human lips. Secondly, that 
he must be present as a trustworthy witness to the 
contract, to see that the parties to it fully understand 
each other, that they really mean to contract and 

9 



130 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

take each other from that time for husband and wife, 
and to bear witness thereafter to others to that fact. 
Thirdly, that he has a power to prevent the marriage 
from taking place, if a just impediment is brought to 
his knowledge, such as consanguinity or affinity 
within the prohibited degrees." 

Here was no impediment as regards consanguinity 
or affinity. The parties fully understood each other; 
and the priest purported to pronounce a blessing. 
Whatever the conduct of the Rev. Joseph Fahy was, 
he was present, he saw what was going on, and was 
therefore competent to give evidence of the marriage. 
And since the ceremony took place nothing has super- 
vened to invalidate the marriage. 

But, as to the so-called conditional contract, can 
it be now successfully contended, after the marriage 
has been consummated and a child born, that the 
condition any longer subsists — subsists for what ? 
To ma,ke a concubine of the wife, to show that she 
has lived in a state of concubinage, and that the child 
is illegitimate. Such a condition, if it ever existed, 
was certainly put an end to by the consummation 
of the marriage and the birth of a child. The 
Petitioner must, under such circumstances, be taken 
in the eye of the law to have renounced any such 
condition. 

But could such a condition be at all valid and 
binding % I am careful not to refer to a marriage 
" per verba de futuro." There may be, I think, a 
conditional contract in this way. A man and a 



USSHER v. USSHER 131 

woman may contract to be married after the lapse 
of a certain time on condition that the father of the 
woman provides at that future time a fortune agreed 
upon, say £10,000. If that sum was not produced 
at the time agreed upon the contract could not be 
enforced. But take the case of a marriage " per 
verba de praesenti," which gives an immediate right 
to cohabitation and consummation; can such a 
marriage, consistently with the existence of such a 
right, be made subject to defeasance ? 

But more especially, can it be subject to defea- 
sance if the right to cohabitation and consummation, 
as in this case, has been exercised ? Such a condi- 
tion would, in my opinion, be invalid as opposed to 
public policy, which favours the unity of the spouses 
as preservative of morality, and also the procreation 
and upbringing of children within the marriage 
bond. 

But how did the contract become conditional ? 
I take it that in order that a contract be conditional 
the condition must be present to the mind of the maker 
when the contract is being made. Can it be said that 
the Petitioner knew anything about the words " if 
Holy Church will it permit " till long after the cere- 
mony had taken place ? These words are not re- 
ferred to in the Petition; and it is only some time 
after the acute professional mind had been brought 
to consider the matter that any reference was made 
to them. They appear for the first time, so far as 
the pleadings are concerned, in the reply. I think 



132 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

it is quite clear that the Petitioner never, consciously 
at least, made a conditional contract. 

But let me refer to what I consider supplies an 
analogy. According to Canon Law, a marriage 
" ratum et consummatum " is indissoluble. (See 
Devine on " The Law of Christian Marriage," page 
92.) Here, no doubt, in the eye of the Church the 
ceremony did not amount to " matrimonium ratum " ; 
it was not properly contracted, as the essential con- 
dition of the presence of two witnesses was not com- 
plied with ; but there was a good contract at common 
law " per verba de prsesenti " in the presence of a 
priest, and this was followed by consummation. 
Certainly the marriage that was celebrated was 
attended by the result that there could be no " resti- 
tutio in integrum." And it is not pretended, or in 
any way suggested, that there was on the part of 
the Respondent any misconduct which would justify 
divorce — in this country separation " a mensa et 
toro," or in England divorce " a vinculo matrimonii." 

One remaining topic. At the time the Report on 
the marriage laws was made, the 19th Geo. II. was 
still in existence, and rendered, as we know, the 
marriage by a priest of two Protestants or of two 
persons, one of whom had been or had professed him- 
self or herself to be a Protestant at any time within 
twelve months of the alleged marriage, null and void ; 
but this Act was repealed many years before the 
marriage with which we are now concerned took 
place by the 33rd and 34th Vict.; and the repealing 



USSHER v. USSHER 133 

Act left Roman Catholics subject to no statutory- 
disability as to a contract of marriage between them- 
selves. It will be remembered, as I pointed out in 
the earlier part of my judgment, that the Petition in 
this case was presented on the hypothesis that both 
Petitioner and Respondent were Roman Catholics. 
(See par. 1 of the Petition, and par. 2 of the Peti- 
tioner's affidavit, where it is alleged that both Peti- 
tioner and Respondent were Roman Catholics at the 
time of the ceremony of marriage.) And the last 
section (sec. 42) of the 33rd and 34th Vict., which 
provides that that statute and the 7th and 8th Vict, 
should be read together and construed as one Act, 
removes all the difficulty which was alleged to attach 
to the third section of the 7th and 8th Vict. ; because, 
there being no limitation of time as to the profession 
of Protestantism existing at the moment when the 
marriage took place, the Petitioner and Respondent 
were then free to contract as Roman Catholics: a 
marriage could legally be celebrated between them. 
I am accordingly of opinion that the marriage which 
took place between the Petitioner and the Respon- 
dent was a valid marriage according to the law of the 
realm, according to the common law, and that the 
Petition should be dismissed with costs. 



BY THE EDITOR 

CHAPTER XXIII 

EXPERT WITNESSES — SERJEANT ARMSTRONG — LORD RUSSELL — 
MR. GLADSTONE — LORD o'HAGAN 

The last time my father discussed this book of 
reminiscences with me he said: " See that my judg- 
ment in the Ussher case is fully included, inasmuch 
as it attracted a good deal of interest on account of 
the recent Papal decree ' Ne Temere.'" Ussher v. 
Ussher was the last judgment of importance he gave; 
his resignation took place shortly afterwards. 

He prepared his judgments very carefully, and 
worded them in concise and simple language so that 
they could be easily followed by those unversed in 
legal subtleties or in legal phraseology. 

I think he attached very little importance to the 
testimony of experts, were they experts in hand- 
writing or anything else. I was present in court 
when he was trying a case in which a thief had broken 
into a house and taken a number of valuable things, 
leaving as a clue to his identity finger-prints on a 
dusty bottle. 

These finger-prints were photographed, and an 
expert gave evidence as to the vertical finger lines 

135 



136 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

on the bottle being identical with the vertical lines 
on the prisoner's fingers. The expert went on to say 
that, in his opinion, the vertical lines on people's 
hands were always different. My father, with an 
air of incredulity, asked the witness if he would 
undertake to swear that, among millions of people 
in the world, no two human beings could be found 
with identical finger fines. 

On one occasion he had to try a case the issue of 
which depended on the exact meaning of a word in 
the Irish language. The services of a professor of 
Irish, who had written several books in the Irish 
language, were enlisted, yet he did not speak or under- 
stand what the Irish peasant so aptly calls " cradle " 
Irish — that is to say, he had not heard it spoken from 
the cradle, but had acquired it late in life. The pro- 
fessor, according to himself, was a very efficient 
Irish scholar. 

:< I believe you have written many books in the 
Irish language ?" asked the Chief Justice, with a 
bland smile. 

1 Yes, my lord," answered the professor. 

" You have, I understand, a thorough knowledge 
of the language ?" 

" Yes, my lord." 

My father, who, when a boy, had picked up a little 
Irish from the peasants in Clare, said : " Now, Pro- 
fessor, can you tell me how to say this simple sen- 
tence in Irish — Have you seen a hare pass by here ?" 

The expert admitted defeat. " Well," continued 



SERJEANT ARMSTRONG 137 

the Chief Justice, " can you say, Are the hounds in 
sight ?" The Professor had again to acknowledge 
himself defeated. " And yet," said his interrogator, 
" you call yourself an Irish scholar. I fear your 
Irish is not of any practical use." Turning to one of 
the Irish-speaking witnesses, my father said a few 
words to him in Irish. The man, who was overjoyed 
at being addressed in his own tongue, left the court 
probably under the impression that the Judge spoke 
Irish fluently. 

To Serjeant Armstrong as a cross-examiner my 
father conceded the palm. In his opinion the Ser- 
jeant was the most skilful cross-examiner the Bar 
of Ireland ever produced. Once the Serjeant was 
cross-examining an expert on handwriting in a case 
of forgery. The expert, plausible and self-sufficient, 
ignored the Serjeant as much as possible, and addressed 
himself almost entirely to the Bench. Serjeant Arm- 
strong seemed to acquiesce in all the witness said, 
and as he was about to leave the witness-box, po- 
litely asked him to stay one moment and tell the 
Judge and jury about the dog. " How about the 
dog?" inquired the astonished Judge. "Just tell 
his lordship," said the Serjeant suavely, " whether 
Lord Chief Baron Pigott said he would not hang a 
dog on your evidence when you appeared before him." 
The Serjeant then mentioned a famous case of for- 
gery, and the discomfited expert had to admit the 
truth of Serjeant Armstrong's statement, who thus 
won his case. 



138 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

I have heard my father, when speaking of Lord 
Russell of Killowen, express admiration of his skill 
in extracting the truth from a reluctant witness, 
" though," said my father, " I could never under- 
stand why the Press gave him such kudos for his 
cross-examination of Pigott in the Parnell Commis- 
sion, inasmuch as a poor, miserable, cowardly crea- 
ture such as Pigott was easily shown up. Russell did 
many more difficult things than his cross-examination 
of Pigott." 

My father often said that he considered Isaac Butt 
the most eloquent speaker he had heard, and that on 
first hearing Gladstone he experienced a feeling of 
disappointment, which changed to one of pleasurable 
appreciation when he became accustomed to the 
Northern burr. 

I recollect hearing Mr. Gladstone very severely 
criticized in my father's presence. Some denounced 
Gladstone for having abandoned Gordon; others, 
on account of his Irish policy and his Home Rule 
Bill. My father listened in silence for a time and 
then said: " There was one thing about Gladstone I 
could never forgive or get over." " What could you 
never forgive or get over, Chief Justice ?" queried 
his listeners. " His transcendent ability," was the 
answer. 

My father always maintained that the most elo- 
quent address he had ever heard at the Bar was 
delivered by the late Lord O'Hagan in defence of an 
Italian Jesuit who had held a mission somewhere 



LORD O'HAGAN 139 

near Dublin, and had preached against the evils 
which accrue from reading pernicious literature. The 
Jesuit suggested that those possessing any immoral 
books should bring them into the chapel yard and 
burn them. Accordingly numerous books were placed 
in barrows and wheeled into the chapel yard, where a 
fire was lighted and the books destroyed. It was 
alleged that among the books thus burnt was a Bible. 
Father Petcherini, the Jesuit, indignantly denied 
all knowledge of the occurrence. Lord O'Hagan, in 
the most eloquent of speeches, pointed out what in- 
finite service the Catholic Church had rendered 
Christianity by translating the Scriptures and pre- 
serving them throughout troublous times when the 
light of faith was all but extinguished. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

AN ELDERLY LOTHARIO 

Once I visited the Four Courts while my father was 
hearing an amusing case of breach of promise, which 
entertained me much. 

An action was brought by a lady against a decrepit 
old gentleman, who was known as the Chevalier 
Bergin. The first meeting between the couple had 
taken place in the grounds of some private hospital 
or sanatorium. The gentleman was elderly, having 
reached his threescore years and ten. The lady 
seemed to have " rushed " him, inasmuch as she even 
fixed the wedding date without having consulted him. 
The defendant introduced himself to the lady as the 
" Chevalier Bergin, a man of wealth and title," and 
the plaintiff, who was badly off, evidently thought 
" Here's a good thing," or, perhaps, " Here's a soft 
thing." The lady whose affections were tampered 
with admitted that she was twenty-eight years of age, 
though she hardly looked so much as she stood in the 
witness-box, clad in black, and wearing a long veil 
over her hat, the folds of which graceful head-gear 
fell almost to her feet. From the Bench came a 
polite request that she would raise her veil so that 
the court might see what the Chevalier saw. The 

140 



AN ELDERLY LOTHARIO 141 

lady was reluctant to comply with this request, but 
Mr. Healy, who appeared for the defendant, insisted 
that she should " dis-cocoon herself," and objected 
to her coming into court hooded like a " Turkish 
lady." She then proceeded to unwind her yashmak- 
like head-dress, and when her becoming draperies 
were removed, she seemed older than she had at first 
appeared. Her birth certificate was produced, and 
showed that she had courageously deducted eighteen 
years from her age. When examined, she said that 
the Chevalier became so enamoured of her at first 
sight that she thought it necessary to say her name 
was Mrs. Keegan, in order to " put him off." On 
hearing that she was married, he seemed so much 
disappointed that she relented, and confessed that 
she was Miss Keegan; whereupon this elderly 
Lothario devoutly exclaimed, " Thank God !" The 
lady spoke of walks in the romantic and shady 
grounds of the sanatorium, where they discussed 
foreign travels, and defendant made her repeat 
after him that she would be true to him while she 
lived, the lady taking care to do so in the presence 
of a witness. 

Much amusement was created in court by the cross- 
examination of the Chevalier, a doddering old gentle- 
man, who boasted of his successes with the fair sex, 
after which brag Serjeant Moriarty* scanned him for 
a moment, with a whimsical expression of counte- 
nance, and then pleasantly remarked: 

* Afterwards Lord Justice. — Editor. 



142 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

" Chevalier, I had no idea that you were such a 
devil of a fellow." 

The old gentleman thereupon flew into a passion, 
and threatened to call out the Serjeant, adding, " If 
I had my health I would be in better form for you." 
The Serjeant, nothing daunted by the Chevalier's 
challenge, proceeded to assure the defendant that he 
was in excellent form, and the very pink of courtesy. 

" I ought to be, because of the title I bear," the 
Chevalier pompously remarked. 

When asked if he had ever put his arms round the 
lady, he ungallantly said: " It was she put her arms 
round about me first — it was she who first kissed 
me," he added emphatically amidst much laughter. 

Witnesses were called to give evidence as to a 
promise of marriage. It was quite evident that the 
Chevalier had undoubtedly promised, in the presence 
of witnesses, to marry the plaintiff, and the Judge, 
when summing up, pointed out to the jury that the 
question for them to decide was, Did the defendant 
promise to marry the plaintiff, and if he did, to what 
damages was she entitled ? With regard to the lady's 
age, he said : " It has become almost a maxim of law 
in these courts that a lady is entitled to take a few 
years off her age, but taking off eighteen years is 
going a little too far !" 

The jury found for the plaintiff, who was awarded 
damages. 



CHAPTER XXV 

AN AWKWARD PREDICAMENT — FRIENDS — JUDGE WEBB 

Once, through a stupid mistake on the part of a 
railway porter, my father was placed in a somewhat 
awkward predicament. He was a Q.C., at the time, 
and was travelling to the south, to appear in some big 
case at the Assizes. He had with him a light port- 
manteau, which contained his silk gown and wig. 
Travelling by the train was a Bishop, who was going 
to the same place to hold a Confirmation service. 
He, too, had a small portmanteau. When the train 
reached the station for which my father was bound, 
a fuddled porter gave him the Bishop's portmanteau. 
My father hurried to the court-house and opened 
the portmanteau with a view to robing. What was 
his dismay to discover instead of his wig and gown 
a mitre, cross, and gorgeous vestments ! The Bishop 
was equally surprised to find that the garb in which 
he was to administer Confirmation were a wig and 
gown. A member of the junior Bar made a very 
clever and amusing caricature of an eminent Q.C. 
wrathf ully pacing up and down, crowned with a 
mitre, while the Judge of Assizes sat on the Bench 
waiting, like patience on a monument, for the pro- 
ceedings to begin. 

143 



144 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

My father had a large and miscellaneous acquain- 
tance, comprising, as he himself said, all sorts and 
conditions of men. He numbered amongst his dearest 
friends his schoolfellow, Lord Chancellor Naish; Sir 
Edward Carson, who was his devil, and whom he was 
wont to describe as " Bon Diable "; and Lord London- 
derry — kindest and best of friends. Of the Judges, 
my father held in affectionate regard Lord Chief 
Baron Palles, Lord Justice Holmes, Mr. Justice Gib- 
son, and Mr. Justice Ross. He had a sincere affection 
for Lord Atkinson, who was closely associated with 
him in many criminal prosecutions, was called to the 
Bar at the same time, and took silk on the same day. 

Dr. Webb, a Fellow of Trinity College, and after- 
wards a County Court Judge, was a fairly frequent 
visitor at our house in my childhood. He was the 
author of some philosophical works, and on one occa- 
sion when he came to see us brought with him as a 
present a book which he had himself written, and 
which was entitled " The Veil of Isis," in which work 
he gives a summary of Berkeleianism. The learned 
Doctor began to explain Bishop Berkeley's philosophy, 
and endeavoured to persuade his hearers that material 
things exist only in idea, and that the physical uni- 
verse is not an independent reality. My father, who 
was not given to metaphysical reasoning and was, 
above all, practical, listened for a time to Dr. Webb's 
elaborate subtleties, but at last said impatiently: 
" Webb, may I knock your head against that book- 
case ? and you can then tell me if it exists materially "; 



JUDGE WEBB 145 

at which remark the Doctor laughed good-humouredly 
and said: " I will give you another book more to your 
taste," and shortly afterwards sent him a presenta- 
tion copy of his translation of Goethe's " Faust," 
with which work my father was charmed. So de- 
lighted was he with it that, there and then, though 
quite little girls, we were made to read " Faust " 
in the original, also to commit to memory many 
of the principal songs, and compare them with the 
Doctor's translations, which my father considered 
finer than Taylor's, perhaps because of his regard for 
the translator. 

During Judge Webb's last illness my father went 
to see him frequently. On the occasion of the last 
visit, I recollect him saying, " I have been sitting 
with poor Webb. It was a melancholy spectacle to 
see him so weak; the end can't be far off. He was 
having lunch when I arrived, and insisted on my 
having a last glass of wine with him. It is sad to 
see so great an intellect, and so good a heart, going 
the way of all flesh. Those lines he was so fond of in 
' Faust ' kept coming into my mind while I was with 
him. What would not poor Webb give to be young 
once again !" 

The lines referred to were those from the Prelude 
to " Faust." Dr. Webb translated them thus feli- 
citously : 

Oh, give me back the time of growing, 

When I myself was in my Spring, 
And when the fount of song was flowing 

With fresh, unbroken carolling — 

10 



146 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

When all was haze, and all illusion, 
When wonder lurked in every flower 
And blooms in thousands decked the bower, 

And dales were one divine profusion. 

Naught had I, but enough for youth 

Delight in dreams, and longing after truth, 
Give me the yet untamed emotion, 
The bliss that tingled into pain, 

The power of hatred, love's devotion, 
Oh, give me back my youth again.' 



CHAPTER XXVI 

THE THEATRE — SPURGEON — CHRISTIAN SCIENCE — DINNER 
WITH QUEEN VICTORIA 

In his young days my father was something of a 
theatre-goer. He loved all Shakespeare's plays, but 
" Hamlet " was his favourite. In the role of Hamlet, 
Mr. Forbes Robertson gave him more pleasure than 
any other actor. I remember him telling me that 
when he was at Trinity College he attended a repre- 
sentation of " Hamlet " given at the old Theatre 
Royal, Dublin. The play was wretchedly rendered, 
the ghost's part being played by an actor who 
ranted in the most ludicrous fashion. Great was 
my father's delight when a voice from the gods 
suddenly called out: " The divil such a ghost I ever 
seen !" a remark which much disconcerted not only 
the ghost, but also Hamlet. 

When I was a child, my father, if he wished to 
give me a treat, would take me to the theatre to see 
Irving and Miss Ellen Terry in one of Shakespeare's 
plays, but I could rarely prevail upon him to bring 
me to a musical comedy. 

He was an admirer of Sir Herbert Tree, and in- 
variably went to see him act when he came to Dublin. 
As Malvolio in " Twelfth Night," he considered Tree 

147 



148 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

quite inimitable. Sir Herbert and Lady Tree were 
friends of his, and we generally contrived to see some- 
thing of them when they came to Ireland. 

My father, when a young barrister, acted occa- 
sionally in private theatricals. These performances 
generally took place in Clare, where my uncle, in 
order to provide amusement for his guests, im- 
provised a theatre, utilizing an empty house on his 
estate for the purpose. In that remote district the 
guests, who were quite dependent on their own 
resources for entertainment, acted in many little 
pieces, much to their amusement and satisfaction. 
The audience was not critical, and consisted chiefly 
of tenants. The neighbours were few, and motors 
had still to be invented. One night it fell to my 
father's lot to impersonate an ardent and impoverished 
lover, who urged, in impassioned language, a young 
and beautiful lady to elope with him. He acted his 
part so convincingly, and with so much spirit, that 
a countryman, carried away by the acting, forgot it 
was only acting, and called out, " Shame on you, Mr. 
Peter, with a wife of your own at home !" 

One of my very early recollections is that of my 
father telling me that he was going to the Tabernacle 
to hear Spurgeon preach, and proposing that I should 
accompany him. I am ashamed to say that up to 
that time I had never heard of Spurgeon. On being 
told that he was London's greatest preacher, I eagerly 
assented. So many years have elapsed since then 
that I have forgotten much, and have but a dim 



SPURGEON 149 

recollection of a large building, an enormous crowd, 
and a stout man who had a magical voice, which he 
managed most skilfully; it never seemed loud and at 
times sank to a whisper, yet it could be heard in 
every nook and corner of the edifice. Part of the 
sermon I have forgotten, though I recollect that it 
was on the evils of self-righteousness and the virtue 
of humility. The preacher did not, as it were, preach 
to the congregation, but rather talked to them in a 
friendly manner. He at once established a feeling 
of friendship between himself and each one present: 
one felt he was a great humanitarian whose " human 
heart was touched by human things." He had the 
power of making one laugh or weep with him. He 
told us a little story to illustrate the evil of self- 
righteousness. He said that some Prince, visiting 
a prison incognito, was taken into the prison yard 
by the governor of the jail. The prisoners were 
exercising, and the Prince questioned each man as 
to the reason of his imprisonment. With the excep- 
tion of one man, each criminal told the Prince that 
he had found himself in jail because, though innocent, 
he had been wrongly accused, or because of some 
miscarriage of justice. When the Prince came to the 
last man, he said to him : " What's the reason of your 
imprisonment V 

" Alas !" said the prisoner in contrite accents, " I 
stole a purse." " You stole a purse !" exclaimed the 
Prince, as if horrified. Then turning to the governor, 
he said: " It is monstrous that a thief should be among 



150 EEMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

so many honest men. Remove his handcuffs. I give 
him his liberty. Prisoner, you are free." Child though 
I was, I was greatly impressed by the manner in which 
Spurgeon managed his voice, and with his preach- 
ing. " How simply he spoke !" I said to my father. 
" Yes," was the answer, " Ars est celare artem." 

Though my father possessed a very large share of 
courage, and in the bad time when his life was in 
jeopardy was ever cheerful, yet, like many highly- 
strung people, he had a horror of physical ills. One 
day when speaking to a friend (a lady) — an ardent 
Christian Scientist — he expressed himself appre- 
hensive of having contracted a chill. The lady 
chided him for his nervousness, and told him if he 
made up his mind to be well he would not be conscious 
of illness. She spoke of the triumph of mind over 
matter, and lent him a book explaining the doctrines 
of Christian Science. As he did not peruse " The 
Principles of Christian Science " he was, of course^ 
unable to express an opinion on the book, as he had 
been requested to do. He extracted himself from 
the difficulty by the notelet which he wrote when 
returning the book. It ran thus: 

" Dear Lady, 

" Many thanks for so kindly lending me ' The 

Principles of Christian Science,' which I now return. 

Last night, alas ! I drank champagne and port at 

dinner, and this morning feel neither a Christian nor 

a Scientist. 

" Yours sincerely, 

" O'Brien." 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 151 

Once in his presence some friends who were dis- 
cussing death happened to remark that this world 
was a vale of tears, and to leave it was a happy 
release. My father, who up to that time had not 
taken part in the conversation, then told the following 
little anecdote of a friend, whom we shall call Colonel 
Adams, though that was not his name. The Colonel 
lived at a place which we shall call Ballyaller, a 
dilapidated house completely isolated, in the West of 
Ireland. Touchstone's words would describe the 
Colonel's feelings — " a poor thing, but my own " — 
for he loved Ballyaller dearly. During his last illness, 
which was long, the clergyman of his parish con- 
stantly visited him to administer spiritual consola- 
tion. One day, finding the invalid much depressed, 
the clergyman spoke disdainfully of the fleeting joys 
of this world, and dwelt on the glories of paradise, 
describing the jasper city and all its beauties. The 
poor Colonel listened politely, seeming to acquiesce 
in everything, but when the clergyman had finished 
speaking, said wistfully: "To be sure, heaven may 
be a very beautiful place, but I'd be quite content 
if they'd only leave me at Ballyaller," meaning by 
" they " the powers that be. 

On the occasion of Queen Victoria's last visit to 
Ireland, Her Majesty's Irish Chief Justice received a 
command to dine with the Queen. This summons 
placed him in a difficult position, as he did not receive 
it till the morning of the day for which the dinner 
was fixed, and his Court suit was in London ! Luckily, 
his tailor was a man of resource, and promised to run 



152 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

up a suit in time, but lie warned my father to beware 
of gesticulation, or much movement, lest the hasty 
stitching might give. The suit was delivered in due 
course, and the Chief hurried off to the Viceregal 
Lodge, hoping fervently that the stitches would hold, 
and that he would not be seized with a fit of sneezing. 
Fortunately, the stitches did what was required of 
them, so that his nervous apprehension wore off, and 
he was free to enjoy himself. When dinner was 
over, Her Majesty, who sat in an arm-chair in the 
centre of the room, sent for him and held a prolonged 
conversation with him concerning Ireland and Irish 
affairs, which, he said, she discussed with much 
intelligence. It was only when she rose and, leaning 
on a stick, walked out of the room, that he realized 
how aged and feeble she was. I have been told that 
the Queen laughed heartily at my father's account 
of how, when a serjeant-at-law, he bested a Swiss 
hotel-keeper. One hot, airless night he arrived at 
Lucerne, when the season was at its height, and drove 
to one of the principal hotels. He was assigned a 
small, stuffy bedroom, and on asking for a more airy 
apartment, was informed that the hotel was so 
crowded that there was not another room available. 
He then inscribed the following words in the visitors' 
book: " Her Britannic Majesty's Second Serjeant-at- 
Law." This high-sounding title so greatly impressed 
and perplexed the manager, that he debated as to 
whether my father ought to be received with diplo- 
matic courtesies ! Needless to add, he was at once 
given a splendid and spacious apartment. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

THE INTERNATIONAL BOAT RACE 

It was due to my father's efforts that the Inter- 
national Boat Race took place in July, 1902, on the 
River Lee, when a cup was competed for, the value 
of which was some four hundred pounds. The entry 
for this International Cup was larger than the entry 
for the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley. The 
Leander Club was the first to declare that it would 
send a crew to compete upon the Lee; Oxford sent 
two crews, and Cambridge one from Emmanuel 
College; Ireland entered eight of her best crews; and 
Germany sent one from Berlin. This sporting event 
was the most interesting that ever took place on Irish 
waters, and was witnessed by an enormous concourse 
of people, the crowd covering the two miles of 
thoroughfare on both sides of the Lee. Every shop 
in Cork was closed, and the weather, strange to say, 
behaved so admirably that the beautiful river was 
without a ripple. Bunting displayed itself gaily, 
while pleasure-boats were decorated with the colours 
of the various rowing clubs, the rose-red of the 
Leander Club being everywhere conspicuous. Cork 
is proverbially hospitable, and each and all vied in 
entertaining and accommodating the various crews. 

153 



154 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

My father threw himself heart and soul into making 
the race a success; it was characteristic of him to be 
very eager about anything in which he was in- 
terested. I hope he wished as ardently as I did that 
an Irish rowing club would win. At one moment 
Germany seemed likely to carry off the trophy; there 
was a moment of breathless tension when the German 
crew led by a length ; then the Leander caught them 
up, and they rowed neck to neck for about three yards, 
the Leander finally winning by one length. A storm 
of deafening cheers greeted this most exciting finish. 

" I had no idea a boat race could be so thrilling," 
said a racing man when the race was over. " Just 
think — I, who have kept race-horses all my life and 
bet largely, could have had just the same excitement 
without expense." 

Lady Bandon presented the cup to the victors. 
My father was greatly pleased at the success of the 
regatta, and at the orderly bearing of the vast as- 
semblage. He had always an affection for Cork, the 
scene of his early triumphs at the Bar. The boat 
race attracted a great crowd, and as it took place 
during the Cork Exhibition, did much to increase 
the success of that enterprise. 

When the race was first suggested, many persons 
threw cold water on the idea. " You will never get 
Irishmen to pull together, not even in a boat," was 
the remark made to my father over and over again. 
But he understood the Irish character, and the only 
reply he vouchsafed was, " Won't I ? We shall see. 



THE INTERNATIONAL BOAT RACE 155 

Who are the critics ? Those who have failed in 
life." 

He was lucky in having the assistance of Mr. H. G. 
Gold, and of that athlete and man of letters Mr. R. H. 
Lehmann. Both these gentlemen acted as umpires, 
and my father's many friends helped him, with 
their subscriptions, to provide the cup. One friend, 
whom he met in the Kildare Street Club, when asked 
or a subscription, wrote the following amusing 
parody on Prout's well-known poem: 

" the Groves of Blarney ! 
They are so charming 
Around the Rock of 
Sweet Cajolry ! 
Whence that noble Scion, 
The Lord O'Brien, 
In old Kildare Street 
Came down on me, 

" With his high Mandamus, 
(For his word that same is) 
' Pay those two guineas I've 
Assessed on thee 
For my noble muster 
That's to add new lustre 
To the pleasant waters 
Of the River Lee.' 

"Oh, Cam and Isis 

Have their great Boat prizes, 
But when next Summer ends 
Where shall these be ? 
When their ancient story 
Must yield its glory 
To the glorious waters 
Of the River Lee ! 



156 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

" When all Erin's Island- 
Town, plain and highland — 
Shall joyful gather round 
Our ' Chief ' from Clare, 
Clan of Kinkora 
From Kilfenora, 
As he lifts his ' Loving Cup ' 
Kesplendent there." 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

NEWLANDS HOUSE — THE INVISIBLE COACH 

On leaving Castletown we anchored at Newlands 
House, which is situated above Clondalkin, not far 
from the Dublin Mountains. If the house is some- 
what isolated, the surrounding scenery is lovely. In 
spring the hills are yellow with gorse, while in summer 
and in early autumn the heather and bracken are a 
joy to the eye. We made many expeditions in the 
neighbourhood, which afforded my father much plea- 
sure. He was very fond of scenery, and would travel 
any distance to obtain a good view. Newlands is a 
very old house, and looks much older than it really is, 
inasmuch as it is much weather-beaten, having been 
buffeted by many a wild storm from the hills. From 
an elevation in the grounds there is an extensive 
panorama of Dublin and its surroundings. 

A Dominican monastery nestles at the foot of Tal- 
laght Hill, and in our rambles we frequently came 
upon the monks, picturesque in the flowing bla^k- 
and-white habits of their Order. 

At Newlands my father got together a pack of 
basset hounds, and he used to derive much pleasure 
in following them on foot. 

There is a tradition that Newlands is haunted. 

157 



158 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

It had at one time been the residence of Lord Kil- 
warden, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, who was 
assassinated in 1803, in the Emmet rising, under the 
most tragic circumstances. The Lord Chief Justice, 
when driving to Dublin to attend a meeting of the 
Privy Council, was set upon by the rebels, dragged 
from his coach, and stabbed. The terrified horses 
returned to Newlands at a gallop, where Lady Kil- 
warden met the empty coach. From time to time 
ever since, the sounds of horses' hoofs are supposed 
to be heard on the avenue, accompanied by the loud 
rumble of heavy coach-wheels. 

Inscribed on a pane of glass in a window at New- 
lands is Lord Kilwarden's name. It is, as far as I 
know, on the pane to this day. When my father 
heard that the place was supposed to be haunted, he 
asked if the ghost was an " inside " or an " outside w 
one, and on hearing that the ghostly manifestations 
were confined to the grounds, he took the house, 
notwithstanding its rather gloomy history. When 
we had been at Newlands about a month, I had a 
strange experience. One lovely afternoon, in early 
autumn, I was sitting alone in the drawing-room, 
which is situated at the back of the house. The sun 
was streaming through the open window, and a small 
fire burned briskly on the hearth. It had been lit 
more for the sake of cheerfulness than warmth. 
Among the flower-beds I could hear belated bees 
drowsily humming. I had an interesting book in 
my hand, and was feeling lazy and immeasurably 



THE INVISIBLE COACH 159 

content. Nothing was further from my thoughts 
than ghostly visitations. Suddenly I heard the sound 
of horses' hoofs on the avenue. Visitors, I thought 
regretfully, and prepared to lay aside my book. I 
listened for a moment, and concluded that visitors 
were not coming, for the sounds were like those of 
some heavy van or coach lumbering up the avenue. 
I went into the hall and on to the doorsteps, looking 
to right and left, but there was nothing in sight. I 
returned to the drawing-room much perplexed, feel- 
ing that perhaps after all there were such things as 
ghosts, and that Lord Kilwarden's invisible coach had 
paid me a visit, though I experienced no feeling of 
alarm; it was almost impossible to feel nervous in 
broad daylight with the sun shining brightly. When 
my family heard of the occurrence, they could find 
no solution of the mystery, but seemed to think I had 
been a prey to superstitious fears. My father cheer- 
fully remarked that if Lord Kilwarden did drive about 
the neighbourhood, he would have displayed a decided 
lack of courtesy had he not called upon the Chief 
Justice. The mysterious rumbling of coach- wheels 
was explained shortly afterwards in the following 
manner: One day, happening to be in the grounds 
at the rear of the house, I again distinctly heard the 
rumbling of heavy wheels. My sister, who had been 
with me a few minutes before, had gone indoors. I 
thought she was still near, and called out loudly, " Do 
you hear the coach on the avenue ?" 

There was no answer to my question, but my own 



160 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

words came back to me distinctly, thus enabling me 
to solve the mystery of the invisible coach; for in 
that part of the grounds which was situated about a 
hundred yards or so from the drawing-room, where 
I had first heard the rumbling of the wheels, there 
was a loud echo. I called out several times, and 
always heard my own voice borne on the breeze. I 
then went towards the wall which surrounded the 
domain, and, looking over, saw a heavy dray going 
down the Nass Road. It was only at one particular 
spot that the sounds were audible, and that spot was 
situated in a direction parallel with the drawing-room 
at the rear of Newlands; from the front of the house 
the sounds could not be heard. 

This is the somewhat prosaic explanation of Lord 
Kilwarden's coach. 

It was supposed that there was a hollow somewhere 
under the grounds at Newlands, which has served as a 
lurking-place for rebels, and which communicated 
with a secret passage leading to the Dublin Mountains, 
where the rebels used to hold meetings. In this 
cavity a treasure was supposed to be buried. How 
many hours I wasted looking for the treasure, and 
the secret passage ! 



CHAPTER XXIX 

CAELSBAD — VERSAILLES 

In the summer of 1908 my father journeyed to Carls- 
bad under his doctor's orders; I accompanied him. 
He derived much benefit from the Sprudel waters, the 
change of scene, and the invigorating air. What end- 
less and delightful rambles we took through the great 
pine forests ! Walking through the woods, inhaling 
the fragrant scent of the pine-trees, forms part of the 
cure at Carlsbad. The forest to us was a haunt of 
endless joy. How delightful were its cool, mysterious 
depths ! How noble its great upstanding, blue-black 
firs ! A winding path would bring us suddenly in 
sight of some flower-bedecked shrine where suffering 
pilgrims knelt, praying probably for restoration to 
health. Life begins early at Carlsbad; people are 
astir before five o'clock in the morning, and are to 
be seen at the Sprudel drinking their glasses of water. 
The queue at the well is often half a mile in length, 
and in it one sees representatives from every nation, 
progressing literally by inches to their goal. One 
day we motored to Marienbad to call on a friend. 
In the street there we met His Majesty King Edward, 
who honoured his Irish Chief Justice by stopping to 
say a few words to him. His Majesty, ever anxious 

161 11 



162 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

to promote pleasant social intercourse, bade us call 
on Monsieur Clemenceau, who was then " doing a 
cure " at Carlsbad. My father obeyed orders, feeling 
somewhat apprehensive lest Monsieur Clemenceau 
should not be able to speak English, in which case, 
he said, " I shall have to air my County Clare French." 
However, we found that Monsieur Clemenceau 
spoke English perfectly. He received us most cor- 
dially, and as he was leaving Carlsbad in the course 
of a few days, suggested that we should call upon 
him when passing through Paris on our way home. 
This we did, and he made things very pleasant for 
us in the French capital during our brief visit there. 
Indeed, this visit to Paris stands out as one of the 
pleasantest experiences in both our lives. It was 
late in September when we reached Paris; the weather 
was glorious — fine and dry. Each day we made 
interesting excursions. We visited Versailles and 
Fontainebleau, and as we had special permits, owing 
to the kindness of Monsieur Clemenceau, we were 
admitted to many places of interest not usually open 
to the public. At Fontainebleau we were shown over 
the apartments of Napoleon and Josephine, and the 
rooms once occupied by the spirituelle de Maintenon. 
We sat upon her sunny balcony overlooking the 
famous carp pond where she and the Roi Soleil were 
wont to sit chatting in their old age, when both were 
the victims of rheumatism and failing health. 

We were greatly interested in pictures of Madame de 
Montespan and of Louise de la Valliere, and my father, 



VEKSAILLES 163 

who had a penchant for the gentle de la Valliere (for 
which Whyte-Melville's charming novel " Sister 
Louise " was responsible), was forced to acknowledge, 
very much against the grain, that she was plain — 
distinctly plain. His disillusionment caused me much 
amusement, and I could not resist chaffing him. But 
he appeared so downcast that I toqk pity on him, and 
told him by way of consolation that in all probability 
the painter had not done her justice. We also visited 
St. Germains, interesting to English people inasmuch 
as the exiled James II. and his consort, the lovely 
Mary Beatrice of Modena, took up their abode there 
after the flight from England. Only a few stones 
remain to mark the spot where the palace stood, 
which was destroyed by the Communists. From the 
Pavilion Henri Quatre, near the ruins, we obtained 
a glorious view of the Seine, quivering and glittering 
in the autumn sunlight as it wound its way, like a 
silver ribbon, through the pleasant land of France. 



CHAPTER XXX 

ABBOTSFORD — DRYBURGH ABBEY — SEDAN DAY — HERBERT 
BISMARCK — LORD WOLSELEY 

In the autumn of 1912 my father and I made an 
expedition to Scotland, where we stayed with Sir 
Richard and Lady Waldie Griffith at Hendersyde 
Park, romantically situated on the Tweed. It was 
his last visit to Scotland, and he thoroughly enjoyed 
it. He delighted in the historical associations of the 
Border country; and, an enthusiastic admirer of Sir 
Walter Scott, he was in his element in Scott's country. 
We made a pilgrimage to Abbotsford, where we in- 
spected Sir Walter's library with much interest. My 
father had the greatest admiration for Scott's in- 
domitable courage when, confronted with the pros- 
pect of financial ruin in his old age, he began writing 
again, and rebuilt his fortune by his pen. He spoke 
of how incessantly Scott worked, and dwelt on this 
incident in Scott's life. He told me that Lockhart, 
when living in Edinburgh, used to see in the window 
of a house opposite his, a hand constantly writing. 
This busy hand, running over the paper, was all that 
was visible between the curtains. First thing in the 
morning and last thing at night, Lockhart saw it. 
He grew curious to know to whom the hand belonged, 

164 



ABBOTSFORD 165 

and discovered that it was that of Sir Walter Scott, 
working indefatigably at his immortal novels. What 
pleasure my father derived from the Waverley Novels ! 
In fact, he read few other works of fiction. He was 
never a great reader, but read the books he liked over 
and over again, which comprised Shakespeare's plays, 
the Bible, and Scott's novels. He was once seriously 
annoyed with me because I ventured to say in his 
presence that the Waverley Novels belong to a past 
age. I never recollect seeing him read a modern sen- 
sational novel. Historical works greatly interested 
him, and he had a liking for the writings of Harrison 
Ainsworth. He confessed that in his youth he had 
shed copious tears over " Guy Fawkes." Of the 
Waverley Novels, his favourites were " Ivanhoe," 
" The Heart of Midlothian," and " Woodstock." He 
could quote passages from them by heart. A favourite 
passage of his was the one from " Woodstock " be- 
ginning: " Oh, Antony Vandyke, what a power was 
thine !" It is spoken by Cromwell when, overwhelmed 
by emotion, he suddenly sees a picture of Charles I. 
My father had a liking for Scott's poetry, and wished 
to visit Melrose Abbey, so our kind host and hostess 
motored us there, but not " by the pale moonlight." 
We also motored to Jedburgh Castle, where Queen 
Mary stayed when she rode from Holyrood to meet 
Bothwell. 

We were pointed out Queen Mary's Mire — a 
marshy field, in those days a quagmire, where many 
of her retinue were engulfed. My father quoted 



166 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

freely from " The Abbot " and " The Monastery," 
and would ever and anon break off to exclaim, 
" What a debt of gratitude Scotland owes to Scott ! 
Why, he immortalized every stone here." 

Before we left Scotland we visited Dryburgh 
Abbey, where Sir Walter Scott is buried. The old 
abbey, at once so grand and peaceful, seemed on that 
autumn afternoon a meet resting-place for the great 
Scotchman. It was too late in the season for ex- 
cursionists, so that we had it all to ourselves. Nothing 
disturbed the silence save a robin, which, perched on 
the novelist's tomb, bravely sang its melancholy 
autumn song. 

This visit to Scotland was the last of the many 
delightful expeditions we made together. I was his 
constant companion from my early childhood, and 
shared many of his experiences. My sister and I, 
when quite small children, rode by his side up the 
Brocken in the Hartz Mountains, amusing him the 
while by our prattle of Faust and the Witches' 
Sabbath. He encouraged us to talk freely with 
him, and never talked " down " to us, an aggravating 
habit common to many " grown-ups." On reaching 
the summit of the Brocken, we came upon a large 
crowd of schoolboys beating drums and waving flags. 
We inquired the cause of this jubilation, and were 
told that as it was the 4th of September, they were 
celebrating the anniversary of the Battle of Sedan, 
as is the custom in Germany. I remember him 
telling us of the Franco-German War, and of the 



HERBERT BISMARCK 167 

German success at Sedan, and he told us what in- 
sufferable airs the victors gave themselves at the 
close of the war, bragging of their successes, and 
that their bounce and swagger were quite unbearable. 
He thus kept two little girls interested all day. 

It was only when we returned to our hotel that we 
realized how tired we were, and what a long excursion 
we had made. He was much interested in military 
strategy, and liked discussing famous battles. As a 
child, at his request, I read aloud to him Sir Edward 
Creasy 's " Decisive Battles of the World," and he 
insisted upon my marking on the map places where 
important battles had taken place. Though these 
readings were doubtless improving, I fear I did not 
enjoy them as I ought. In those days I found Sir 
Edward Creasy very dry ; the words seemed very big, 
and the names very unpronounceable. My father 
visited Mars la Tour, Sedan, and those places where 
important actions had taken place in the war of 
1870. When Count Herbert Bismarck was the 
guest of Lord Londonderry in Dublin, he called 
upon my father at the courts. As they were talking 
together, Count Bismarck gave a sudden wince, as if 
in pain. " What is the matter, Count V asked my 
father. " Oh, nothing to signify," came the answer; 
" only a rheumatic pang. My leg is like a weather- 
cock, since some damned Frenchman put a bullet in 
it in the Franco-Prussian War." 

Count Bismarck was much struck at seeing some 
dilapidated, ill-countenanced men waiting to be tried. 



168 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

" Surely," he said, " each of these rascally fellows is 
not to be separately tried. What a waste of time ! 
It would be wiser to hang the lot." He was good- 
humoured and pleasant, very homely in his manner; 
indeed, there was very little Kultur or Bildung (which 
is the better word) about him. At dinner he partook 
largely of oysters, and astonished us all greatly by 
drinking champagne and porter at the same meal. 

Once when my father and I were travelling we 
found ourselves in the same compartment with Lord 
Wolseley, who was a most entertaining conversa- 
tionalist. After a time he and my father discussed 
wars and warfare. My father observed that con- 
ducting a campaign must be a terrible strain on the 
nervous system. " Yes," answered Lord Wolseley, 
" one must keep very fit and practise abstinence. 
For weeks before the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir I eschewed 
even the mildest cigarette, but when victory was ours 
I smoked sixteen straight off without a check, and 
how I enjoyed that smoke !" 



CHAPTER XXXI 

RESIGNATION — LAST DAYS 

My father resigned the Chief-Justiceship of Ireland 
in January, 1913. When the news appeared in the 
papers he received many messages of regret and 
affection, especially from Clare — he was ever proud 
of being a Clare man. The Bishop of Killaloe wrote: 

" Ennis, 

" 19. 11. 13. 

" My dear Lord O'Brien, 

" I must write one most sincere word to say 
with what genuine sorrow I see it announced that 
you are about, because of ill-health, to resign the 
office of Lord Chief Justice, which you have filled 
for so many years, and with such splendid dignity. 
I think, too, that in this matter I can speak not 
only for myself, but for the great body of the 
people of Clare, especially that portion of the people 
for which I am specially responsible, who all regret 
your illness, and with whom you have been always 
popular, feeling as they did that in you they had 
a true and courageous friend who never forgot the 
country where he was born. 

" I wish you a speedy return to perfect health, 

169 



170 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

and I earnestly pray the Good God Who has blessed 
your life so propitiously to grant you still many years 
to enjoy your well-earned repose. 

" Believe me, dear Lord O'Brien, 
" Yours sincerely, 

" F. M. Fogherty, 

" Bishop of Killaloe." 

Another Clare friend wrote: 

" . . . I knew you first as Peter O'Brien, and 
afterwards as Peter the Packer, and I then followed 
your career all through, and I have always been 
proud of you, and of Clare for having produced so 
eminent a lawyer." 

Mr. Birrell, who had remonstrated with him for 
resigning, wrote thus: 

" You have slipped through my fingers most 
scandalously. Will we get a better Irishman than 
you to cajole a jury into observing their oaths ?" 

All these kind messages touched my father greatly. 
He felt keenly his severance with Bench and Bar. 
We hoped that once his resignation became a fait 
accompli, his health would improve, but such was not 
the case. He missed his accustomed work. Perhaps 
his most remarkable trait was his love of his profes- 
sion. He was greatly interested in everything asso- 
ciated with the Bar of Ireland, and was proud of its 
achievements. He was ever ready to hold out a 
helping hand to a nervous young barrister, and if he 
could honestly give a word of praise or encourage- 



LAST DAYS 171 

ment, he never let the occasion slip. On the Bench, 
he was ever courteous, considerate, and forbearing. 

As the months wore on we could see he was failing, 
but with the approach of summer he made a wonderful 
rally, and we hoped that we might keep him with us 
for a considerable time. By August, 1914, his health 
had so improved that he was able to be out again. 
One fine sunshiny morning in the early days of the 
War, he and I went for what was to be our last drive 
together. We had shopping on hand, and on reach- 
ing Grafton Street, we found a vast crowd assembled 
to see some regiment march to the North Wall for 
embarkation, its final destination being the Front. 
We drew up to see it pass. There was a scene of 
boundless enthusiasm; the windows above the shops 
were thrown open; workgirls appeared, cheering and 
waving handkerchiefs. A steady stream of soldiers 
poured past, the officers riding alongside of the men, 
who were singing bravely. An officer, recognizing 
"The Chief," as my father was affectionately called, 
saluted when passing the motor, The men, most 
of them Irish, and many of them probably Dublin 
boys, evidently knew him by sight, for they all 
saluted him, and he returned each salute. When the 
last soldier disappeared, I turned to speak to him. 
His eyes were full of tears ; he knew full well that he 
would not be spared to witness their return. A 
month later, on the 7th of September, he passed 
away peacefully, in the presence of those whom he 
loved, who were gathered round his bedside. 



172 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

After the blow had fallen, my mother received 
many kind letters to condole with her on her irre- 
parable loss. Lord Londonderry (alas, so soon to 
follow !) sent one of the first messages of sympathy, 
writing : 

" . . . I can assure you my regard for him whom 
I always called Peter was very great. He was 
always the dearest and kindest friend to me. I shall 
ever look back to that friendship with feelings of 
the greatest pleasure. I am indeed glad to think 
that I went to see him at Bath, for I gathered from 
Sir Edward Carson it gave him great pleasure, but I 
would have done more for him than this." 

Sir Horace Plunkett wrote thus appreciatively of 
his high courage: 

" Dear Lady O'Brien, 

" I have avoided the flood of letters purposely. 
It gives less pain, too, when such bereavements are 
recalled after the first shock is past. Allow me now 
to send my tribute of deep sympathy with you and 
your family at the passing of your distinguished 
husband. 

' What always struck me most in his career was 
his wonderful courage. Few men of his time had 
their courage more thoroughly tested. He never 
once lost his cheerfulness ! It was a full life, and, 
considering what he went through, the end came no 
sooner than his friends might have expected, much 



TRIBUTES OF SYMPATHY 173 

as they would have wished a long calm evening after 
such a life of strenuous service. 

" I wish you and your family all the comforts 
which you should derive from the remembrance of 
his achievements and his charm, and from the know- 
ledge that a very wide circle of friends is deploring 
his loss and sympathizing with those near and dear 
to him. 

" Believe me, 

' Yours sincerely, 

" Horace Plunkett." 



APPENDIX I 

TRIBUTE FROM THE JUDGES 

At the opening of Michaelmas Term at the Four 
Courts, the Judges of the King's Bench Division met 
together and paid a tribute to the memory of my 
father, who for a quarter of a century occupied the 
position of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. 

The Lord Chief Justice said that as this was the 
first occasion since the lamented death of Lord 
O'Brien of Kilfenora that this Divisional Court had 
sat, it was right that he as the President of the Court 
should express on his own behalf and on behalf of 
his colleagues of the Bench, the officials of the Court, 
and he hoped also on behalf of the Bar and the 
Solicitor profession, their feelings of very deep regret 
at the death of Lord O'Brien. The career of Lord 
O'Brien was known to them all. He was for twenty- 
five years President of this Court, and before that he 
was a law officer of the Crown. The older members 
present recollected him as a practising barrister, the 
younger only as a Judge. If they appealed to any 
of these, the older or the younger members, as to 
what they thought was the chief characteristic of 
the late Judge, he thought they would all agree in 
saying that it was his great courage. He was an 

174 



TEIBUTE FROM THE JUDGES 175 

Irishman to the backbone — a typical Irishman — and 
he possessed in a high degree that high quality which 
they rightly or wrongly associated with their race — 
that of courage. As a barrister he was a fearless 
advocate, and as a law officer he obtained promotion 
very early in life. Many of them recollected the 
years in which he was Solicitor-General and Attorney- 
General. They were troublous years, of great storm 
and stress. Political passions ran high and acts of 
violence were committed throughout Ireland. The 
Executive took means to restore order. There was 
a good deal of difference of opinion among persons 
of all classes with regard to those means, as to whether 
they were right or wrong; but whatever view they 
formed of that matter, everyone admired the courage 
of the Attorney-General, Mr. Peter O'Brien, who 
discharged the duties of his office often at great 
personal risk to himself. When he became a Judge, 
the chief qualities that distinguished his career were 
his firmness and his sound common sense. Other 
Judges might have exceeded him in knowledge of 
case law and statute law, but no Judge had a firmer 
grasp of legal principles than Lord O'Brien, and he 
applied them with courage and firmness, with dignity 
and with consideration for all parties. His judg- 
ments were models of lucidity and care. Knowing 
as he did the Irish character most thoroughly, he 
always had great weight with a jury, and his loss to 
the Bench was very severe. They all recollected a 
year ago when failing health compelled him to resign 



176 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

his high office, and they regretted that so few days 
were spared to him after his retirement to enjoy his 
well-earned leisure. They all mourned his loss, not 
only as a Judge, but as a friend, and they desired 
to tender Lady O'Brien and the other members of 
his family their very sincere and deep sympathy in 
their bereavement. 

The Solicitor-General said that in the unavoidable 
absence of the Attorney-General he desired to join 
in the tribute which had been paid to the memory 
of Lord O'Brien. 

In the course of a long and eventful career, Lord 
O'Brien had many critics but few enemies, for even 
those who differed most from him were attracted by 
the fine qualities of the man. Chiefly, perhaps, by 
the courage referred to by the Lord Chief Justice 
with which he pursued what he conceived to be the 
path of his duty, and by the kindliness of disposition 
which always characterized him — his was a big heart. 
They at the Bar especially knew and experienced his 
kindliness. There was not one of them whom the 
late Lord O'Brien did not at some time or other 
assist by his encouragement or advice. Above all, 
he was a good friend to the struggling junior; he was 
always for the weak, against the strong. As a Judge 
he was patient in his search for the truth, and with 
an extraordinary instinct for finding it. No Judge 
of our time could try a case at Nisi Prius better than 
Lord O'Brien; no one did more to uphold the dignity 
of the courts: he insisted that the forensic battle 



TRIBUTE FROM THE JUDGES 177 

should be fought, as it always should be fought, 
according to the rules of the game, without personal 
animosity or heat. Bearing these things in mind, 
and with deep sympathy for his sorrowing friends, 
the Bar of Ireland reverently placed their tribute 
of affection and respect on the tomb of a great Judge 
and a great Irishman. 



12 



APPENDIX II 

SPEECH ON WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE 

My father made an important speech on Women's 
Suffrage, at a meeting in the Antient Concert 
Kooms, held under the auspices of the Conserva- 
tive and Unionist Women's Franchise Association, 
when an address on the subject was delivered by 
Mrs. Fawcett. 

The speech attracted widespread attention, and its 
delivery was received with great enthusiasm and was 
punctuated by repeated applause. He said: 

A very great privilege has been conferred upon me 
to-night. I have been asked to propose a vote of 
thanks to Mrs. Fawcett for her address. You will 
all agree with me that she eminently deserves it. 
However much the object she advocates may continue 
to be the subject of controversy, there is, and can be, 
no doubt but that the address she delivered was 
altogether admirable. It was interesting — intensely 
interesting. It was characterized by a high order of 
eloquence and by very cogent logical power. The 
treatment of a much controverted subject was lucid 
and exhaustive ; and the delivery — no small point in a 
public address — was simply perfect. And perhaps 
you may consider that I am not the less qualified 

178 



SPEECH ON WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE 179 

impartially to appreciate the great merits of Mrs. 
Fawcett's address, because I belong to no party, to 
no society, to no association, whether for or against 
the suffrage. I am merely a listener, though un- 
doubtedly a very interested one. Well, what is the 
immediate impression left upon our minds ? What 
is the object-lesson we have learned ? Is it not this — 
that there is no sanction, in justice or expediency, 
that a woman should remain unenfranchised simply 
because she is a woman ? That the objection based 
upon the ground of sex rests upon no solid foundation ? 
Of course, a woman cannot transmute herself into a 
man, nor can a man transmute himself into a woman; 
we all rejoice, both men and women, that such a 
metamorphosis is impossible. But, nevertheless, no 
doubt you have heard the expression, " He is an old 
woman of a fellow " — that is to say, he is so imbecile 
that he is really a negligible quantity. But the male 
old woman, if I may illustrate the position by a con- 
tradiction in terms, no matter how senile and incom- 
petent he may be, provided he be neither a sheer 
idiot, lunatic, nor alien, if he can fulfil those conditions 
as to the occupation of property and payment of 
taxes which women as well as men can fulfil, is en- 
titled to the franchise; whereas a woman, did she 
possess all the wisdom of Minerva and all the wealth 
of Croesus, did she pay all the taxes assessable in 
respect of vast possessions, both in land and money, 
and were she endowed with all the political capacity 
of Mr. Gladstone, Lord Beaconsfield, Mr. Arthur 



180 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

Balfour, and Mr. Asquith rolled into one, nevertheless 
must stand outside the franchise because she is a 
woman. This is certainly anomalous. Well, how 
did this disability, arising from sex, originate ? When 
did it originate ? It had its origin in a semi-barbarous 
age. It was not the creation of statute, but came 
into being when mere physical force, mere physical 
prowess, was everything, and when man, the repre- 
sentative of physical force, had it all his own way; 
at a time when men rushed heedlessly, incontinently, 
to the arbitrament of the spear or the sword, and 
when women, by reason of their inferiority as regards 
physical prowess, were in a state, I might say, of 
domestic slavery. There was an action at law some 
few years ago in this country which created a great 
deal of interest at the time. It involved the question 
whether women were entitled to vote at the election 
of Town Commissioners. The negative — that is to 
say, that women were incompetent to vote — was es- 
tablished by a narrow, by a somewhat fortuitous, 
majority of one in a Court of Appeal, the primary 
Court having been unanimously in favour of women. 
Lord Chief Justice Lefroy, Chief Baron Pigot, and 
Chief Justice Monahan — three of our greatest Judges 
— were in favour of affirming the right of women to 
vote. Chief Baron Pigot said he could not attach to 
women the disability which we are discussing here 
to-night, as the monarch who wears a crown might 
be a woman. His words — I am sure they will be 
very interesting to Mrs. Fawcett — were: 



SPEECH ON WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE 181 

" The reign of that Queen (i.e., Queen Mary) was 
followed by that of Queen Elizabeth, of whom Lord 
Plunkett said that no monarch ever better knew the 
royal art of reigning. The intervening reigns of 
Queen Mary (Consort of William III.) and of Queen 
Anne have been now followed by that of another 
female Sovereign, not less illustrious than any of her 
predecessors — her present Majesty. I cannot hold 
that in this realm, in which a female not only may 
reign, but does reign, in her own right, there is in 
women a common law disability arising out of mental 
incapacity." 

This is the language of Chief Baron Pigot. Well, 
if you want a thing done, and you are in earnest about 
it, what are you to do ? This, in my opinion — do it 
yourself if you can; and if you cannot do it yourself, 
get others whom you consider best qualified to do it. 
But what is the position of woman ? She cannot of 
herself compass the reforms she desires, nor can she 
vote for others whom she considers best qualified to 
achieve them. To illustrate the anomalous character 
of the present state of things, I might refer to the 
position of Miss Purser — a very distinguished young 
lady. She obtained two gold medals and a student- 
ship in Trinity College. She could achieve no greater 
distinction. At the present moment she lectures in 
the place of that eminent scholar Professor Dowden, 
who, I regret to say, is unwell. Several scholars of 
the University who are entitled to vote attend her 
lectures, yet she who lectures them has no vote, is 



182 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

not competent to vote, in the University because she 
is a woman. I think you will all agree that there can 
be no greater anomaly than this. 

But what was the ground of decision in the case 
I referred to ? This — that women were, in the eye 
of the law, subordinate to men; that they were in- 
ferior in judgment, discretion, and physical capacity. 
As regards the latter, as regards physical capacity, 
they are, no doubt, inferior to men; they are not as 
physically strong as men; they could not endure the 
physical sufferings of war as well as men. The general 
body of women are not so many Joans of Arc; they 
do not profess to be either warriors or saints. They 
claim no title to the special interposition of heaven 
on their behalf; they merely say that they belong to 
the great human family, and that, if the one portion 
of that family is entitled to any privilege, then, if 
the conditions be identical, so is the other portion 
too. As far as judgment, discretion, and mental 
capacity are concerned, I think most women are quite 
on a par with most men. Their intuition is quicker, 
their instinct is truer, and their tact is greater than 
that of most men. Women are more self-sacrificing 
than men; and from the time of Adam to the present 
hour their moral intrepidity has been quite equal, if 
not superior, to that of men. Our great male pro- 
genitor, when reproached for his disobedience in 
eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, 
exhibiting a degree of poltroonery that can never be 
forgotten, said, pointing to Eve: "The woman 
tempted me, and I did eat." 



SPEECH ON WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE 183 

In the field of education, as regards the capacity 
to acquire and impart knowledge, women have un- 
doubtedly achieved great distinction. On this part 
of the argument I might appeal to the annals of 
Girton College and its long list of literary distinctions. 
A daughter of Mrs. Fawcett qualified, so far as re- 
lated to examinations, for a Senior Wranglership in 
Mathematics at Cambridge, beating all male com- 
petitors in the subject which tries the intellect most, 
and in which great success involves the possession of 
the highest intellectual capacity. And I have in my 
hand here a list of the names of other daughters of 
that college, renowned for their many scholarly dis- 
tinctions. So likewise as regards our own great 
University. 

But now let me turn to a more practical aspect of 
the question, and ask, What in this practical age are 
the conditions which entitle — which ought to entitle 
— a person to the franchise ? Contribution to the 
public purse and capacity to assist the State by pre- 
moting the public weal. Well, do not women con- 
tribute to the public purse ? Are they not qualified 
to assist in promoting the public weal ? What those 
women who support female suffrage complain of is 
that there has been, so to speak, an illogical halt in 
the matter; that very consideration which made the 
Legislature go as far as it did go ought to have brought 
it farther. Mrs. Fawcett has dealt with this most 
elaborately. She has pointed out with much detail 
the several positions which women were considered 



184 EEMINISCENCES OF LOED O'BRIEN 

capable of filling and made competent by statutory 
enactment to fill. So great is the change in the law 
that, having regard to the Married Women's Property 
Acts, a woman who, in relation to her husband, was 
formerly considered a mere nonentity can now sue 
him. A wife can now be a plaintiff and make her 
husband defendant. Not only can she hold property 
independently of her husband, but she can, as a sole 
plaintiff, sue him in our courts of law in respect of 
that property. Well, what measure of support has 
the object advocated to-night received % I need not 
refer to John Stuart Mill; but I am desirous, very 
desirous, to show that the subject has not been treated 
on mere party lines. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman 
supported it; Mr. Haldane, a distinguished lawyer and 
politician, is in favour of it; and Mr. Arthur Balfour 
— last, but certainly not least — spoke and voted for 
the same object. Mr. Justice Madden, equally distin- 
guished in law and letters, who voted for it, informed 
me that the Bill on the subject of female suffrage intro- 
duced in the House of Commons was dealt with on 
non-party lines. I am myself a sort of cross-bench- 
man — I hear what all sides say, but I belong to 
none. 

It has also been said that there is no general de- 
mand for the suffrage on the part of the great body 
of women. I do not know exactly how this may be ; 
but it would appear to me to be illogical and unfair 
to refuse to grant the franchise to a very substantial 
portion of the female sex who are entitled to get, and 



SPEECH ON WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE 185 

who seek to get, it, because others may be indifferent 
to it. These latter object to it, so far as I can gather, 
owing to an unreasonable apprehension on their part 
that their character for refinement may be preju- 
diced. I do not for a moment say that they are vain; 
but perhaps they are hypersensitive. 

There is one other objection which certainly de- 
mands consideration. It is said that the gentle, 
sympathetic nature of woman, and her delicacy and 
refinement, and devotion to home, would be seriously 
interfered with by the turmoil of elections, and that 
that turmoil would be aggravated by the emotional 
nature of women; and it is urged that they would 
become so many shrieking sisters, so many political 
scolds. But even at this present moment, when men 
reign supreme, the political arena is not characterized 
by the silence of the desert. However, I do not 
think this retort is a fair way to put the argument. 
From men's point of view what is meant is this — 
and the contention, so far from being disparaging to 
women, is really complimentary to them. It comes 
to this, that men admire women so much as they are 
that they deprecate all change. So profoundly im- 
pressed are some men — indeed, most men — by the 
other sex that they wish to stereotype them as they 
are. This part of the argument, in my opinion, calls 
for the gravest consideration. Take a professional 
man: what is the greatest, the best, fortune he can 
receive ? In my opinion, a good wife. Every pro- 
fessional man, no matter how brilliant he may be, 



186 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

has ups and downs. There is the hour of disappoint- 
ment as well as the hour of success. In fortune's 
smile the husband's triumph is the greater because 
the wife shares his joy. When fortune frowns the 
wife's sympathy is a priceless boon. When he looks 
upon her who, for better for worse, has been made the 
companion of his life, and sees, it may be, the children 
she has brought him, he shakes off his sense of de- 
pression and braces himself for renewed exertion. 
This is home in its highest aspect, and did I think that 
conferring the franchise on women would interfere 
with the sanctity of the home this movement would 
not receive one word of support from me. But I am 
satisfied that it would have no such effect. Con- 
ferring the franchise on women would, in my opinion, 
enlarge the area of interest for man and wife, and by 
inducing the wife to look abroad on the world, would 
enable her to see what is best not only for her husband 
and herself, but for their children too. She would 
be better qualified to teach the children the way they 
should go to secure success in life. She would learn 
what pitfalls were to be avoided, and what road was 
best calculated to lead to success. She would be 
better qualified to choose professions for her sons and 
— a delicate matter — husbands for her daughters ; and 
perhaps she might learn the lesson that at times she 
might be justified in bestowing the hand of her 
daughter upon a man who, on his part, had nothing 
but his heart and his brain to bestow. Her greater 
experience of public life would enable her to gauge 



SPEECH ON WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE 187 

more accurately what was in a man — what manner 
of man he was, and what he was likely to achieve. 

But it is said you must be logical. You must give 
seats in the House of Commons to women if you give 
them the franchise. 

This, in my opinion, is not so. It does not at all 
logically follow because you give votes to women to 
empower them to send men to the House of Commons 
that they should themselves have seats in that House. 
People who advance this argument confound the 
right of representation in the House of Commons 
with a right to sit there. Representation is one 
thing, actual service in the House of Commons is 
another. A Member of Parliament makes politics a 
profession. A right to vote for a Member of Parlia- 
ment certainly does not make the person who ex- 
ercises that right a professional politician. In form- 
ing an opinion as to who is deserving of a vote, a 
woman need not leave her home and its surroundings. 
A seat in the House of Commons — at least, so far as 
Irish women are concerned — would necessitate her 
leaving not merely her home but her country. It is 
said at times that women are too emotional for public 
life. Well, experience, as far as it goes, contradicts 
this. We hear no complaints from those countries 
where women enjoy the franchise; but responsibility 
is a very effective preventive — a very cooling seda- 
tive. As to the objection, founded on the turmoil 
of elections, I do not think, now that the Ballot Act 
has been passed, that a woman's nature would suffer 



188 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

much from walking to the polling-booth to make a 
cross upon a ballot-paper. The one danger which I 
would apprehend is that, as there is in most partner- 
ships a predominant partner, there might, in the 
partnership of marriage, be a predominant partner 
also, and that the latter, whether husband or wife, 
might have in effect two votes. 

I do not mean a predominancy gained by methods 
of aggression, but by that ascendancy which a strong 
mind insensibly and unconsciously acquires over a 
weaker one. This objection as to a double vote 
would not, of course, apply to spinsters and 
widows. 

I fear I have spoken far too long; but before I 
conclude shall I say anything about the great topic 
of the hour — the doings of the " militants "? Per- 
haps I may tell you of an experience I had a few days 
ago. I met a very charming militant suffragette — 
she looked meekness itself — and, encouraged by her 
gentle demeanour, in my most suave tone I said: 
" Take care that your drastic operations do not 
create a revolt in the public mind against your move- 
ment." Immediately her expression hardened, and, 
with a look of scorn, she exclaimed : " Don't be 
affected." I replied: " I am not affected." There- 
upon she said, with much acerbity: " What political 
battle, what reform worth the name, was ever won 
without some show of physical force — call it excess 
if you wall ? Don't you know that it was the action 
of us militants which brought our movement to the 



SPEECH ON WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE 189 

prominent position that it at present occupies — that 
but for us it would have ever remained in the languid 
atmosphere of unavailing argument ? Where would 
the movement be but for the energy of the militants ? 
Why, in a back seat in some obscure corner." Before 
I had time to reply the young lady added : " Did you 
know Mr. Gladstone ?" " I knew him," I said, " to 
be a pre-eminently great Liberal statesman; a man 
of surpassing intellectuality, of stainless moral char- 
acter, and of great refinement." " Well," said my 
young lady friend, " with all his refinement, with all 
his intellectuality, with all his stainlessness of moral 
character, he said that the Clerk enwell explosion — 
the attempt to blow up the Clerkenwell Prison — 
brought the question of the disestablishment of the 
Irish Church within the range of practical politics." 
Then, with a lofty wave of the hand, the young lady 
added: " You were never born to be a statesman; you 
are a mere Judge." " Well," I replied, " statesman 
or no statesman, mere Judge or no mere Judge, if 
you are brought before me for a criminal offence, I 
will sentence you to imprisonment." " Sentence me," 
she cried, " if you will; gladly will I go to jail to attest 
by my sufferings the sincerity of my convictions." 

But I must pass away from this enthusiastic young 
lady and her militant propaganda. For myself — 
had I to decide the main issue in the case before me 
— I might find it necessary to reserve judgment. 
But one point at least requires no lengthened delib- 
eration, and that is that Mrs. Fawcett is entitled to 



190 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 

our fullest meed of admiration. We hope we have 
not seen the last of her; we hope that we may have 
her with us very soon again; we will hail her advent 
with great joy, not merely because we are an hospitable 
nation, but because we believe her noble intellect 
does honour to her sex. 



INDEX 



Abbotsford, 164 

Adams, Richard, County Court 

Judge, 54 
Ainsworth, Harrison, 165 
Alverstone, Viscount, 76 
Ardilaun, Lord, 46 
Armstrong, Serjeant, 137 
Atkinson, Lord, 83-85, 144 

Bailey, Fenian, 51 

Balfour, the Right Hon. A. J., 71, 78, 

82-87 
Bandon, The Countess of, 154 
Bannerman, Sir Henry C, 184 
Barrett, Trial of, 35 
Barry, Judge, 48 
Beaconsfield, Lord, 179 
Beresford, Lord Charles, 68 
Beresford, Lord Marcus, 68 
Bergin, Chevalier, 140 
Berkeley, Bishop, 144 
Birrell, Mr. Augustine, 110 
Bismarck, Count Herbert, 167 
Blarney, Groves of, 155 
Blunt, Mr. Wilfred, 81 
Blunt, Lady Anne, 82 
Boat Race, International, 153 
Botany Bay, 12 
Brady, Irish Invincible, 53 
Breach of Promise Cases, 21, 140 
Brocken, 166 
Brosnan, Mrs., 36 
Brown, Thomas, 35 
Brown, Mrs., 36 
Buller, Sir Redvers, 69 
Buller, Lady Audrey, 70 
Burke, Under Secretary, 53 
Burren Country, 17 
Bushe, Chief Justice, 104 
Butt, Isaac, 22, 104 
Byrne, Inspector, 81 
Byrne, Mrs. Frank, 56 



Cafirey, Invincible, 53 
Campaign, The Plan of, 81-86 
Carey, James, Invincible, 52, 63 
Carey, Peter, Invincible, 58 
Carey, Serjeant, 93 
Carlsbad, 161 
Carnelly House, 1 
Carson, Sir Edward, 74, 78, 99, 

144 
Casey, Thomas, approver, 47 
Casey, Michael, 46 
Casey, Patrick, 47 
Casey, John, 47 
Castle Island, Co. Cork, 35 
Castletown House, 97 
Catholic Emancipation, 2 
Catholic Education Right, 29 
Cavendish, Lord Frederick, 53 
Celbridge, 97 
Christian Science, 150 
Clanricarde Estate, 81 
Clanricarde, Lord, 81, 85 
Clare, Co., 1, 4, 17, 28, 39, 169, 

170 
Clare Election, 28 
Clemenceau, Monsieur, 162 
Clerkenwell Explosion, 189 
Cliffs of Moher, 17 
Clongowes Wood College, 7, 8 
Coercion Act, 78 
Coll, Gweedore Prisoner, 95 
Cork Assizes, 19-24 
Cork Exhibition, 154 
Couch, Sir Arthur Quiller, 112 
Cowper, Lord, 56 
Creasy, Sir Edward, 167 
Crimes Act, 78 
Crown Prosecutor for Green Street, 

32-39 
Curley, Daniel, Invincible, 53, 58 
Curraghmore, 68 
Curran, 104 



191 



192 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 



Delany, Patrick, Invincible, 53 
Delany, Daniel, Invincible, 53 
Delaney, Dr. S. J., 9 
De Moleyns, County Court Judge, 25 
Dillon, Mr. John, M.P., 87 
Doloughty, John, 42 
Dominican Monastery, 157 
Dowden, Professor, 181 
Doyle, Peter, Invincible, 53 
Doyle, Constable, 42 
Dryburgh Abbey, 166 
Dublin Castle, 78 

Emmanuel College, 153 
Emmet Rising, 158 
Experts Testimony, 135 

Fagan, Michael, Invincible, 53 
Famine, The Great, 3 
Farrell, Robert, Fenian, 53 
Faust, Goethe's, 145 
Fawcett, Mrs., 178, 183, 189 
Fenianism, 51 
Field, Mr., 52, 61 
Fisher, Mr. Hayes, 87 
Fitzgerald, Lord, 19, 25, 31 
Fitzgerald, Mrs., 33 
Fitzgerald, Patrick, 36 
Fitzgibbon, Lord Justice, 104 
Fitzharris, James, Invincible, 53 
Fogherty, Dr., Bishop of Killaloe, 

169 
Fontainebleau, Palace of, 162 
Forester, Fenian, 59 
Forester, Mrs., 59 
Forster, W. E., Chief Secretary, 52 
Franco-Prussian War, 166 
Freeman's Journal, The, 28, 43, 74, 

84 

Ghosts, 11, 158 

Gibson, Mr. Justice, 95 

Gladstone, Mr., 68, 138, 179, 189 

Goethe, 145 

Gold, H. G., 155 

Goodall, Frank, Huntsman, 98 

Gordon, General, 138 

Gray, Mr. Dwyer, 43 

Green Street Court-House, 42 

Gregory, Lady, 16 

Griffith, Sir Richard Waldie, 164 

Griffith, Lady Waldie, 164 

Gweedore Trial, 92 



Haldane, Lord, 184 

Hanlon, Joseph, Invincible, 53 

Hanlon, Laurence, Invincible, 53 

Harrington, Mr. Timothy, M.P., 73 

Holmes, Lord Justice, 144 

Holyrood, 165 

Homburg, 68 

Hounds, Meath, 98 

Hounds, Kildare, 98 

Houston, Mr., K.C., 95 

Huddy, The Bailiffs, 46 

Hunting Recollections, 97 

Huxley, 62 

Hynes, Francis, 42 

Hendersyde Park, 164 

International Boat Race, 153 
International Cup, 153 
Invincibles, Irish, 51 el seq. 
Irish Language, 136 
Irving, Henry, 147 

Jedburgh, 165 

Joyces, The, 46 

Judges, Tribute from the Irish, 174 

Judgments, 135 

Kavanagh, Invincible, 56, 57 
Kelly, Tim, Invincible, 53 
Keegan, Miss, 141 
Kenny, Fenian, 51 
Keogh, Judge, 23 
Kilfenora Village, 29 
Killaloe, Bishop of, 169 
Kilwarden, Lord, 158 
Kilwarden, Lady, 158 
Killowen, Lord Russell of, 138 
King Edward, 161 
Knockanane, Co. Clare, 42 

Land League, The, 31, 43 

Lawson, Judge, 51 

Leander Club, 153 

Lee, River, 153 

Lefroy, Lord Chief Justice, 180 

Lehmann, R. H., 155 

Lentaigne, Father, S.J., 8 

Lockhart, 164 

Londonderry, Marquis of, 82, 88, 

167, 172 
Londonderry, Marchioness of, 88 
Lucerne, 110 



INDEX 



193 



Maamstrasna Massacre, 47 

Maamstrasna Debate, 49 

Macaulay, Lord, 4 

Madden, Mr. Justice, 184 

Mahony, The 0' Gorman, 2S 

McCaffrey, Edward, Invincible, 53 

MacDermot, The, 95 

McFadden, The Rev. James, 92 

McMahon, Mrs., 59 

Marienbad, 161 

Martin, Thomas, Invincible, 53 

Martin, Inspector, 93 

Melrose Abbey, 175 

Mitchelstown, 72 

Mill, John Stewart, 184 

Milton, 111 

Moher, Cliffs of , 17 

Molloy, Mr. Constantine, 94 

Monahan, Chief Justice, 180 

Montespan, Madame de, 162 

Moonlight, Captain, 32 

Moonlighters, 33 

Moore, Major, 98 

Moriarty, Lord Justice, 141 

Morris, Lord, 45 

Moroney, William, Invincible, 53 

Mullet, James, Invincible, 53 

Mullet, Joseph, Invincible, 53 

Murphy, Serjeant Frank, 5 

Murphy, Judge, 43-62 

Naish, Lord Chancellor, 8, 17, 54, 

104, 144 
Nee, 49 

Newlands House, 157 
Nauheim, 68 
Ne Temere Papal Decree, 135 

O'Brien, Edward, Invincible, 52 
O'Brien, Mr. Justice James, 20 
O'Brien, John of Ballynalacken, 

Member for Limerick, 1, 2, 3, 5, 

7, 12 
O'Brien, Mr. Justice William, 20, 53, 

58, 60, 64 
O'Brien, Mr. William, Member for 

Cork, 67, 72, 81, 84, 87 
O'Connell, Daniel, 2, 4, 28 
O'Connor, Sir Nicholas, 8 
O'Donnell, Francis, Fenian, 63 
O'Hagan, Lord, 138 
O'Loghlin, Sir Colman, 28 



Olphert Estate, 92 
Oscott College, 7 
O'Shaughnessy, Mr. Richard, 8 
Oxford, 153 

Palles, Lord Chief Baron, 15, 86 
Parnell, Charles Steward, 22, 29 
Parnell Commission, 76 
Parnellism and Crime, 76 
Petcherini, Father, 139 
Peter the Packer, Soubriquet of, 43, 

86, 120 
Philbin, Anthony, 47 
Phoenix Park Murders, 52 
Pigott, Lord Chief Baron, 180 
Pigott, 77 

Plunkett, Sir Horace, 172 
Poor Law Act, 2 
Porter, Sir Andrew, 54 
Punchestown Races, 17 
Purser, Miss, 181 

Queen v. Parnell, 29 
Queen Victoria, 151 

Radcliffe, Mrs., 11 
Robertson, Mr. Forbes, 147 
Roche, Mr. John, M.P., 83 
Ross, Mr. Justice, 94, 144 
Rowles, Henry, Invincible, 52 
Rowland, Mr., M.P., 82 
Royal Literary Fund, 110 
Russell, Lord John, 4 

Salmon, Provost, 13 

Scartaglin, Castle Island, 38 

Scott, Sir Walter, 164 

Sedan, The Anniversary of, 166 

Shakespeare, 111, 147 

Sheil, Richard Lalor, 4 

Shelbourne Hotel, 12 

Sheridan, Invincible, 56 

Shore, Canon Teignmouth, 13 

Smith, Irish Invincible, 56 

Smollett, 1 

Spencer, Earl, 67 

Spenser, Poet, 111 

Sprudel Well, 161 

Suffrage, Speech on Women's, 178 

Suffragettes, Militant, 188 

Sullivan, T. D., 29 

Sullivan, Mr. Denis, 54 



194 REMINISCENCES OF LORD O'BRIEN 



Tabernacle, The, 148 
Tallagh, Co. Dublin, 157 
Tenants' Rights, 29 
Terry, Miss Ellen, 147 
Thackeray, 5 

Theatre Royal, Dublin, 147 
Threatening letters, 32 
Tree, Sir Herbert, 147 
Tree, Lady, 148 
Trinity College, 12 
Twohey, Mrs., 34 
Twohey, James, 33 
Tynan, " No. 1," 57 

United Ireland, 50 
Ussher v. Ussher Judgment, 
113 



Vandeleur, Captain Hector, 28 
Vandeleur, Colonel, 28 
Vandyke, Anthony, 165 



Versailles, 161 
Virgil, 5 

Walsh, Irish Invincible, 56 
Walker, Sir Samuel (Lord Chan- 
cellor of Ireland ), 1 7, 84 
Watson, John, Master of Meath 

Hounds, 98 
Webb, County Court Judge, 54, 144 
Whelan, Patrick, Invincible, 52 
Whyte-Melville, 163 
Witches' Sabbath, 166 
Wolseley, Viscount, 89, 168 
Wolseley, Viscountess, 89 
Woodford Evictions, 81-84 
Wright, Mr. Justice, 23 
Wyndham, The Right Hon. George, 
106 

Zetland, Marquis of, 88 
Zetland, Marchioness of, 88 
Zingari Club, 91 



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